SF 467 
.P6 
'{Copy 1 



TOM MONEY W 




. ,,.S IS THE BOOK FOR WHICH YOU SENT THE REQUEST 

PUBUSHBD BY 

lymouth RockSguab Company 



MELROSE HIGHLANDS 



MASSACHUSETTS 



(HINDER Of THESOUAB INDUSTRYIN AMERICA 






ELMER C. RICE TREASURER PLYMOUTH RO^ 

FOUNDER OF THE SQUAB INDUSTRY IN AMERICA 

PYRIGHT 1916 BY PLYMOUTH ROCK, SQUAB .COMPANY 



THIS MAN SAW THE FAIRS IN 1915 ON SQUAB PROFITS 

I Like Farm Work Now That I Am Making 

Money by Breeding Plymouth Rock 

Homer and Garneau Squabs 



BY W. O. BUNCH 



WHEN I was twenty-two years old and was working for 
my father on the farm at very moderate wages, and 
was thinking of leaving the farm for something that 
would pay better, I happened to learn of the squab business by 
my father going to a town where a man had quite a pigeon business. 
He came home and told what he saw and heard and I became very 
much interested. This was in December, 1909. I looked over 
some magazines till I found an advertisement of the Plymouth 
Rock Squab Company. I sent for the manual and after reading 
about everything I ordered six Carneaux. They pleased me so 
much that I forgot all about leaving the farm but wanted more 
pigeons. Then I sent to the Plymouth Rock Squab Company for 
six pairs of their best Homers. I still have the original six pairs 
and they have been doing good work all these five and one-half 
years. I was much pleased when the young began to hatch and 
grow. I kept the squabs the first year, or till May, 3911. Then 
I was able to sell one or two dozen squabs each week and that spring 
I built an addition of two units and filled it with young pigeons. 
Then next year I built another addition of four units which made 
this building eighty feet long and all filled with birds of my own 
raising except the few pairs of Homers and Carneaux that I started 
with. 



I kept on selling squabs and next year, 1913, I built another 
pigeon house" fifteen by sixty feet and kept young pigeons to fill 
this building except I sent to the Plymouth Rock Squab Company 
for fifty pairs of their best Homers and they sent me a nice bunch. 
Later I bought fifty pairs more of Homers. The next year I built 
another addition of forty feet which made this building fifteen by 
one hundred feet, and then I bought a few more Homers. I have 
sold some squabs to private trade, but this is too much bother as I 
am in the country some distance from the city so I prefer to kill 
all in one day, put them in a barrel with ice, and send them to a 
commission firm in Chicago, which is about one hundred miles 
west of my town. This year I have not put up any building, but 
in the spring of 1915 took a trip to California to see the expositions 
and let the pigeons pay all the expenses. It was an enjoyable 
trip, but I was glad to get back to Indiana, where I could take care 
of my pigeons again, and they have been doing good work, too, 
this summer. 

Since I am making a good thing with the birds I have no desire 
to leave the farm and try something else. Here are the figures 
as taken from my books which show the number of squabs sold 
each vear and the price received: 1911, 702 squabs $177.45; 1912, 
1291 squabs $382.20; 1913, 2875 squabs $915.25; 1914, 5501 squabs 
$1,486.60; and this year till September 1, 4652 squabs $1264.90; 
and to-day, September 2, I sent 224 squabs to Chicago. All there 
is to it, is start with the right kind of stock and information. 



*tM$"fr?t"*«t"i"f"i"t'4"i' 



I Used to Be a Hired Man but Now I Work for 
Myself Breeding Plymouth Rock Squabs 



BY GEORGE CABALL 



I MANAGED a squab plant of 1500 birds, and seeing the 
great opening for another plant I decided to start myself. 
I did not have much capital, so had to start small. I bought 
seven pairs of Plymouth Rock Carneaux February 7, 1914, and 
have to date (August, 1915) 150 mated pairs and twelve odd cocks. 
On March 15, 1914, I bought twenty-five pairs of Homers, and 
have one hundred pairs and have sold $175 worth of squabs. 
With m,y. small flock I cannot supply the demand, so have to help 
me three^gi'Jties also having small flocks (whom I got to start), 
who serine all their output at $3 per dozen alive; and I still have 
been short on several occasions this summer. When I figure the 
little trouble my squabs have been compared with my chickens 
I say by all means squabs for me. The coops I have been using 
are made from piano boxes but I intend to put up a large house 
this fall. I have had not more than two sick birds all this year. 



When I was managing the squab plant of 1500 birds, I could 
see there was plenty of room for another. The people I worked 
for shipped most of their squabs to Chicago. With my present 
stock of 250 mated pairs I must say I have done beHer than I 
ever thought I would. I have been short on several occasions this 
summer, notwithstanding I am buying all the squabs the three 
neighbors can produce and can afford to pay them $3 per dozen 
alive. I have not sold a squab for less than $5 per dozen this year. 
I can pick twelve per hour, so have $2 or more profit on every dozen 
I buy. Two dollars per hour are good wages, but next year I hope 
to have a flock large enough to supply all my trade. I live near 
three of the best resorts in Michigan, namely, Ottawa Beach, 
Macatawa and Wankzoo, and not only had the business this summer 
but have the promise of a great many to take my squabs and eggs 
for the winter and will let me know when to send as soon as they 
get back to the cities. They say they never have tasted squabs 
with such a nice flavor and so plump and have always compli- 
mented me on the wav I clean them. 



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WHAT I DID IN FIVE YEARS WITH FOUR PAIRS (by J. W. 

M'.-rray^. The evidence in Rice's National Standard Squab Book 
convinced me that with good iudgment and plenty of sand there is 
money in the squab business. I bought four pairs of Homers to 
try my luck, December 14, 1908. I finished off a loft in my shop 
chamber to accommodate about thirty pairs and put them in. It 
did not take them long to commence housekeeping. I began to 
raise up the best squabs. At the end of the first year I had nine- 
teen pairs. The next year I increased my flock to fifty pairs. I 
converted the lower part of my shop into a pigeon loft, making one 
room in the front end to accommodate about fifty pairs, with an- 
other smaller room to place the young in, leaving the rest of the 
space for a grain room and small coops. At present (February, 
1914) I have one hundred ten pairs. Lait year (1913) I sold 
$385.30 worth of squabs. I paid $200.90 for grain, leaving a bal- 
ance of $184.40. My whole plant, including yard, occupies a 
space of 20 by 28 feet. From the time I commenced until Decem- 
ber 17, 1913,1 sold 3313 squabs. 

GOOD FLORIDA MARKET (by William A . Beader). I bought 
three pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers in April. After giving them 
three months' trial, I ordered three more pairs in July. I am more 
than pleased with them. I have given them a good try-out, as 
this has been a long, hot summer. They have bred fine. I have 
fiftv-nine pigeons in all (October 29). I am in the business to stay, 
as the market is Al here. I can sell more than I can raise at six 



dollars a dozen. In Miami, Florida, which is only twenty miles 
from this place, I have referred three of my friends to the business, 
and they have bought breeders. The claim that Homers will breed 
seven to nine pairs of squabs a year is more than safe. I have some 
that will breed twelve pairs a year at the rate they are going. I 
have had squabs that tipped the scales at one pound apiece at 
three weeks. I am an old chicken breeder so it was easy for me to 
learn the ways of the pigeon. 

SOUTH CAROLINA MARKETS BARE OF SQUABS (by Clif. 
XV. Jones). Three large hotels in my city claim they do not place 
squabs on the bills of fare because they have no way of getting them 
except to ship in from some other point. They can only get a few 
sometimes from local breeders for special occasions or special orders. 
Six or eight cafes never serve squabs because the meat markets do 
not handle them and no one has offered to supply them regularly. 
All of the hotels and cafes claim they would buy good squabs regu- 
larly if they could find some one to supply regularly, some one on 
whom they could depend. The city hospital uses some squabs 
bought locally. If necessary it sometimes sends to Atlanta, one 
hundred and fifty miles. In my judgment there is no better busi- 
ness to engage in here than squab breeding. People are simply 
clamoring for some one to furnish the squabs regularly and place 
them at the markets. Any one could easily work up a nice trade 
selling direct to the consumers, hotels and the cafes as well as the 
hospital. 



/ 

ICIA418308 



•JAN -4 1916 



ALL MY PAIRS BREED BECAUSE I HAVE THE RIGHT STOCK 



How I Ship Plymouth Rock Squabs 125 Miles 
to a City Hotel by Parcel Post 



BY R. L. PHILLIPS 



I HAVE bought for my start the extra Plymouth Rock Homers 
from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. During the 
months of April, May, June and July (1915), I have been 
getting from thirty-three to forty-five squabs per month, or an aver- 
age of nearly forty. The forty pairs I have are all breeding and 
since last March the average number of nests in the house, con- 
taining eggs and squabs, has been forty-three. One pair raised 
seventeen squabs in 1914, besides three pairs of eggs I took from 
them to put under another pair I have that lay soft-shelled eggs. 
Regarding my methods: I follow the instructions contained 
in Rice's manual as closely as possible. The average cost of feed 
is $2.75 per hundred. They get peanuts once a day when I feed 
my own mixture and I find they give excellent results. 

During the fall and winter months I have local customers (South 
Carolina) who take all the squabs I can supply, but when spring 
and summer come they desert me in favor of frying chickens. 
Furthermore they pay me only $3.25 per dozen, dressed, and I 
began to think this too little for them. In order to dispose of the 
squabs which were accumulating, and at the same time secure a 
better price, I tried a scheme which worked well. I wrote to a 
prominent hotel located about 125 mi'es from this city, and told 
them in as few words as possible that I was a breeder of extra Ply- 



mouth Rock Homer pigeons whose squabs weighed from eight to 
ten pounds to the dozen; that I would snip via special delivery 
parcel post and that a shipment leaving here at 9.15 a. m., would 
be delivered to them by 2. .SO p.m., and that I guaranteed the squabs 
to arrive in first-class condition. I quoted them §4.25 per dozen 
delivered, and three days later received their order for four dozen, 
which is as many as my plant produces per month. I was able to 
fill only part of their order, but they were so pleased that the follow- 
ing week they sent another order for three dczen which I filled by 
calling on some local breeders for help. When three dozen are 
shipped to a point in the second zone the postage, including special 
delivery stamp, amounts to only fourteen cents per dozen. The 
squabs are kept on ice as near train time as possible, and then 
packed (without ice) in a pasteboard box heavily lined with news- 
papers. From the time they leave the refrigerator until delivered 
at destination is just about six hours, and as the hotel has never 
kicked they must arrive O.K. I therefore receive nearly one 
dollar per dozen more than I can get locally and at the same time 
dispone of the entire output to one customer. I might add that at 
the time I wrote this hotel I sent practically the same letter to two 
other hotels located in different cities, and received replies from 
both stating that they did not use squabs during the summer, but 
would be glad to take the matter up with me further in the fall. 
I am a firm believer in a straightforward letter, stating facts, as an 
advertising medium, and am confident that if I had a larger plant 
I could dispose of all the squabs to large hotels at much better prices 
than I can get locally. 



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I PREFER HOMERS, AFTER SEVEN YEARS' WORK (by 

J. B. Beckman). I am going to write and let you know a few 
things about the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and that is this: I 
wouldn't give them for all the other breeds. I now have six hun- 
dred pairs of A No. 1 Homer breeders and a hundred and fifty 
pairs of Plymouth Rock Carneaux, but give me the Homers. I am 
now receiving for eight-pound squabs $4.20, nine- pound squabs 
$4.90, ten-pound squabs $5.30, eleven-pound squabs $5.65, and 
twelve-pound squabs $6. I have had seven years' experience 
breeding squabs. I have a fine market in Chicago and get paid for 
my own grading. I ship to the Associated Squab Supply and 
Distributing Company. My Homer squabs run from nine pounds 
to twelve pounds to the dozen and I shipped last year $1,480 worth 
of squabs to one man; but this year I am receiving one dollar more 
on the dozen than I did last year this time. I am building a new 
house for six hundred more birds. 

WISCONSIN MARKET (by E. E. Merten). On seeing a mar- 
ketman, W. J. Fenelon of Waupun, I learned the following about 
the squab market. He can easily dispose of all he can get at the 
rate of five dollars to seven dollars a dozen, depending upon size 
and quality, which are generally not above a low average. He 
claims it is very seldom he can obtain many squabs in the winter, 
in the severe months. At present (April) he did not have any 
squabs, although he had calls for them and would like to obtain 
some. 

SOLD ALIVE IN BALTIMORE (by Oliver Cas'lewan). I feed 
only the best grain and find it pays. When I went to market my 
squabs I found the Baltimore market not well developed. I have 
now a market in Baltimore for $3 to $3.25 a dozen alive. 

HOW I WAS LED INTO SQUAB WORK BY $5.50 (by W. F. 
Wilkir.s). In the early part of 1912, while on a trip, I ran across a 
man who was raising squabs, and I asked him about them, and he 
told me that there was money in squab raising. I came home and 
never thought much about it until one day while at my work the 
idea of raising squabs came upon my mind insistently, and I said 
to myself. "I im going to buy a few pairs of Homers and try them." 
I purchased fifteen pairs from a man a few miles away in the country. 
I had a vacant horse stall in my yard, and put a floor in it and built 
a small wire cage on the outside. I fed and watered them twice 
daily for six months. I did not have much time to do more than 
that, on account of my other business. I found the increase came 
so fast that I had to have more room, so I bailt a new squabhouse. 
After the birds were in there six weeks, I had a nice lot of squabs 
on hand, and decided to try my lurk on the market. I shipped 
two dozen and when I got my returns I found they had sold for 
$5.50 a dozen. This looked so good to me that I decided to take 
a step forward. I built two more pens and bought eight pairs more 
from the same man, and I also ordered twenty-five pairs from the 
Plymouth Rock Squab Company. It was no time after I put the 
birds in the new houses before they all went to work, and then I 



started in to ship squabs fast. I figured my feed bill and the 
money I received for my squabs, and I found that I had a nice profit. 
Since the first of March of this year, I have shipped 800 squabs 
and saved 100 pairs of breeders from 150 pairs of mated Homers. 
I think this is a very good record. I have four pens now containing 
250 mated pairs of Homers and they are all working and I know 
every pair. I believe this business poorly conducted is a very poor 
business but properly managed is a good business. I want to say 
that any one that ever buys any Homers from the Plymouth Rock 
Squab Company will never regret his money, for they are the best 
Homers I ever saw. The old darkey that works for me says that 
the Boston bird is some bird. I expect by next year to have 500 
mated pairs. I know of no business I like any better than I do the 
squab business. I am a Virginia grower and shipper of cabbage, 
Irish and sweet potatoes. 

MARKETMEN DO N'T WRITE MANY LETTERS. Don't ex- 
pect busy marketmen to take half hours off to write letters to you. 
They get letters every day from skeptical piospects who want to 
know if it is really true that people eat squabs and if they will 
really buy a dozen squabs a week or so, and such letters go into the 
wastebasket where they belong as soon as opened. The market- 
men who advertise for squabs do not do so for the purpose of con- 
ducting a correspondence, but for the purpose of getting squabs 
and paying for them. If you realize that you are dealing with 
business men, and mean business yourself, kill your squabs, cool 
them, pack them in ice in a box and ship them to one of these mar- 
ketmen, sending an invoice by mail and putting a duplicate invoice 
inside the box in a stout envelope on top of the squabs. You will 
be paid for them at the rate of $3 to $6 a dozen. This will introduce 
you to the traffic and you will be told what to do by your consignee 
if you have made mistakes in shipping. Be sure you talk with 
your express agent and ship at the low rate as a "general special" 
with twenty-five per cent off the weight for ice and you will be sur- 
prised to see how cheaply the transrartation wiU figure to a distant 
city. Don't worry about your local market for squabs. Get into 
the habit of killing, packing and shipping regularly to the cities, 
where they are so anxious to get squabs that the firms there adver- 
tise continuously for them. 

IMPORTANT SQUAB SECRETS 

THERE is a very important secret given in our cloth-bound 
one dollar Manual. It is found on Page 231, with further 
explanatory text on Page 308. It tells bow to breed fifteen 
pairs of squabs from any one pair of pigeons in one year, hatching 
only the eggs of the largest birds. By this method a few pairs of 
the laigest Homers or the largest Carneaux may be built up rapidly 
to a fine flock. _ Instead of waiting for the pigeon to grow to the 
mature age of six months before accepting or reieeting it, the pigeon 
is judged in the egg, thus saving months of useless time, labor and 
expense. No small or otherwise undesirable breeders are raised 
at all. The poorer birds do the work of the better birds, and the 
better birds do DOUBLE WORK. Just how this is done is fully 
disclosed, so that anybody can follow it. It is a simple matter of 
no expense whatever, just expert knowledge apolied. This method 
is invaluable to anybody breeding pigeons, as it is applicable to 
any breed. Don't waste feed and time raising poor birds. Head 
them off in the egg. Be sure and read this in the Manual and 
follow it in the management of your flock, if you start small with 
the intention of breeding your own birds. You will have a valuable 
flock in record-breaking time. 



REMARKABLE SQUAB BREEDING BY AN INDTANA MAN 



Why It Pays to Start with Best Stock 



<i « t » < » i » t " t» 



How I Earned Over One Thousand Dollars with One Pair 

of Plymouth Rock Pigeons 



BY E. P. THARP 



IN the spring of 1908 I purchased one pair of imported Belgian 
Carneaux from Elmer C. Rice, the father of the squab industry. 
They were as fine pigeons as one would wish to see and went to 
work immediately. I gave them the best of care and feed and 
they proved to be the best of breeders. In 1909 I exchanged sixteen 



1® ^tg&r*- 






■%£■*- 






PHOTO FROM MR. THARP, SHOWING FLYPENS 

birds with a friend of mine, R. G. Kyte, a noted pigeon fancier and 
squab breeder, for sixteen of his Carneaux, also stock purchased 
from our worthy Mr. Rice. During this time, I had sold quite 
a number of breeders to different parties. In 1912 I had sixty 
pairs of good breeders left and began to sell squabs. I asked some 



of my acquaintances to try them and in a short time I could not 
supply the demand. I sold that year over $150.00 worth of squabs. 
I have obtained six dollars a dozen for all that I have ever sold 
and find a good demand for them here in Northern Indiana. My 
health has been failing ever since and I decided to sell my flock, 
which was an easy matter. I received the topnotch price for them. 
I have just disposed of them but am lost without my birds. 

I assure my brother squab breeders that if they get their stock 
from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company and feed the proper 
kind of feed and give their birds the proper care they will never 
fail in pigeon and squab culture. I intend if health permits to 
start anew in the spring and am going to put in a pen of our friend 
Rice's Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. I know they are right 
or he would not say they were. 

I know of no business today for a man or woman to go into 
for quicker returns for their money than some Plymouth Rock 
pigeon stock for the squab business. In Rice's Manual, "The 
National Standard Squab Book," you have the necessary instruc- 
tion in a nutshell. I followed it to get my results. I am an old 
railroad man (over sixty years old). I have realized over one 
thousand dollars from that one pair of Plymouth Rock 
Carneaux and their offspring. I have had very poor health 
for the last four years and had come to the conclusion to give up 
the business, but I am improving and have the squab fever again 
worse than ever. I would not take a thousand dollars for my 
experience that I have gained in the business and I have no one 
to thank but Elmer C. Rice for my success. 

For prices of our pigeons, see this catalogue, pages 23, 24, 25, 26. 
Mr. Tharp paid six dollars for the pair of Plymouth Rock Car- 
neaux bought of us which did such splendid work for him as told 
above. Our Extra Homers sell for less money and breed as well 
as the Carneaux and are preferred by many. 



?Jr?$tf$?TlM}"J'4'4"t"4"i"l* 



Eight Pigeons Bred to 164 in One Year 



BY JUDGE OCIE SPEER 



I AM one of the justices of the Court of Civil Appeals for this 
State (Texas) and my interest in pigeons and poultry is purely 
for diversion, and I must say I have found it most interesting. 
As between pigeons and chickens, I am decidedly for the former. 
This conclusion has been reached after a very thorough compara- 
tive test, for one season, at least. During the past spring I have 
expended nearly two hundred dollars in incubators, coops, chickens, 
eggs, oil, and feed. Have set nearly two thousand eggs, hatched 
nearly one thousand chicks, eaten only about twenty, and now 
have, of all ages, only about one hundred. They began dying im- 
mediately after they were hatched — indeed, hundreds of them 
made greater haste, and died in the shell — and those that didn't 
die of bowel trouble waited to die of sore head and roup. I have 
fertilized my kitchen garden with their decaying carcasses. I have 
tried all the remedies, from copperas to carbolic acid, and fed every- 
thing from bran to alfalfa. I have all the chickens I want — in a 
Pickwickian sense. I have eaten more broilers and had more pies 
from my pigeons than from all my chickens. 

I started with four pairs of Carneaux. They were well mated, 
hard at work, and withal pretty likely birds. This was in 1911. 
I kept a strict account with this pen, noting every egg laid, when 
hatched, and every other fact which could be of any account in 
my experiment. 

The paint on my pen was hardly dry before the little flock had 



outgrown their quarters, and a new home was provided. Of this 
new plant, if I may use such a pretentious word, I am very proud. 
It consists of a series of five units, each six by ten feet, nine feet 
high in front, and eight feet high in the rear, with flies twelve feet 
long in front, and small flies five feet long in the rear. These front 
flies are finished in pergola style and have an ornamental appear- 
ance in my back yard. I have set vines which I expect soon to 
cover it like a trellis. The back flies are simply so many back yards 
for the youngsters of each pen. The layout will accommodate 
comfortably two hundred birds, or twenty pairs to the pen. 

Once in their new home the Carneaux took on new life as though 
they understood they were expected to fill it. In twelve months 
to a day this is what the pen contained: Sixty-four mated pairs, 
thirty-six youngsters and squabs, and forty eggs under hens, or a 
total of one hundred and sLxty-four Carneaux. This I consider a 
pretty fair showing for the productiveness of that breed, when it 
is remembered that the usual train of bad luck attended my ex- 
periment. A good number of eggs were accidentally broken, some 
squabs died either from accident or disease, I lost some time with 
two cocks that foolishly tried to mate up, many of the eggs from the 
young pairs were not fertile, and there were other little hindrances, 
of all of which I kept due account on my record. But forty birds 
to the pair from four pairs in a twelvemonth is not so bad after all, 
for an amateur. 



WHY SELL FOR LESS WHEN YOU CAN GET $8.00 LIKE THIS? 



How I Sell Plymouth 
as High as Eight 

BY KARL 

I STARTED in 1910 with a small flock of the extra Plymouth 
Rock Homers and bought more from time to time as I was 

able to pay for them out of squab earnings. At that time, 
in fact from 1903 on, I was in the employ of a Boston concern 
selling roofing and coal-tar products. I was a road salesman 
and also a bookkeeper. I did not give up that position until 
January, 1913, by which time the squab plant had demonstrated 
to me its excellent earning power. For two years I saw the birds 
only occasionally and in my absence my relatives looked after 
them. 

I have 480 pairs of breeders now in nine units, all the extra 
Homers except twenty-five pairs of Carneaux. Most of the 
Homers are the original birds as purchased from Mr. Rice. This 
flock has earned a net profit of ninety dollars a month for the past 
six months, and by this I mean a profit after deducting every 
expense, including my own living expenses. My squabs weigh 
nine to ten pounds to the dozen. I am receiving $6.25 to $6.50 
a dozen now (November 24). I received $8 and $8.50 a dozen 
last winter for eight dozen. That was high-water mark. Last 
December I was paid $7 a dozen. Prices were lowest last July 
and August, when I received $5.50 a dozen from family trade and 
$4.75 from clubs and hotels. The minimum price for 1913 was 
$4.75 a dozen. I sold fifteen dozen at that price. For the whole 
of 1913, up to date, I have received an average pr'ce of $5.35 
a dozen. It has cost me $1.87 a dozen to produce t'r quabs, so 
on each dozen I have had a margin of $3.48. I t .ve :.ity-five 
pairs of young pigeons not producing and am c; - ying these at 
the expense of the others in anticipation of then 'ature earnings. 
From August 1, 1912, to July 31, 1913, my Homers produced 
63^ pairs of squabs to each breeding pair. 

My prices are better than those obtained by most squab breeders 
because I have given more thought and effort to the selling instead 
of the breeding. I had to leave school and go to work eleven years 
ago, when thirteen years old, but I made up my education later 
by night school and by my own library. I learned the importance 
of knowing how to sell goods by experience. Selling squabs came 
easy. When I was about to have some squabs ready I took the 
Pittsburgh Blue Book, which is a sort of social register of the city, 
giving the names of the well-to-do families, the clubs their members 
belong to, and facts of that nature, and copied a list of desirable 
prospects whose men folks were doing business down town. I 
would call first on these men at their oface and make an appointment 
to show squabs at their homes to their wives or cooks. In this 
way I made business connections with the Patterson family, the 
Caseys, Childs, Hunters, Porters, Reinewalds, Orrs, Logans. 
In making personal visits to women prospects, I would suggest 
sometimes that they feature a squab luncheon or tea as a novelty 
and I found this suggestion eagerly adopted by those who did much 
entertaining. For such an event they would order one or two 
dozen and always at a price fifty cents a dozen higher than the best 
prevailing nrice in order to get a uniform lot of squabs so that 
each diner would have on her plate one as good as her neighbor. 
My small brother makes all the squab deliveries by trolley and 
he would invariably come back from a trip with a story of how 
pleased the woman was with the size and appearance of the 
squabs. After that, when reordering, the price never would be 
asked. In fact, that is true now of all my customers, including 
the clubs and hotels. They are pleased with the quality and 
my bills never are questioned. All of my trade, with the exception 
of two hotels, pay on delivery of the squabs, mostly by check 
on account of the woman of the house. Last April I started to 
send out to all my customers a monthly card of prices, but one 
month's mailing brought in more orders than I could handle, so 
I dropped that idea. I could sell to my present list of names the 
squabs from ten plants the size of my own. They are calling me 
up now for Christmas and New Year's deliveries and urging me 
not to disappoint them. Duiing the past two weeks I have 
been obliged to turn down one Christmas order for fifteen dozen, 
another for eighteen dozen and a third for thirty-five dozen. 

The Pittsburgh trade had become accustomed to rather poor 
squabs. I found considerable prejudice against squabs among 



Rock Homer Squabs 
Dollars a Dozen 

C. JURSEK 
women who said squabs " had no meat on them, were not large 
enough for a meal, were dry and tasteless," etc. They had been 
eating old pigeons such as boys catch in the steeples and sell for 
fifteen cents apiece and also small or dark squabs frequently shipped 
from cold storage. The large size and juicy eacing of my squabs 
at once overcame such prejudices. 

My customers pay me but a trifle more than they are accustomed 
to pay the marketmen. My squabs are not known as high priced 
and I am careful not to get the reputation of being high priced. 
Once a week I call at the markets down town and find out their 
prices and I base my quotations on such figures, always keeping 
a little above them. The quality of my squabs is always sufficient 
to justify the increase. 

I know from what I have seen of the Pittsburgh markets that 
many breeders are selling squabs equally as good as mine for much 
less money. Dealers, when I quote $6 a dozen to them, will tell 
me of shippers to whom they are paying $3.50 to $3.75 a dozen, 
and they have shown me the invoices as proof and on the invoices 
I have recognized the names of Ohio and Pennsylvania breeders, 
but that never has influenced me and I never have found a dealer 
in need of squabs who would not pay my price if I could supply him. 
Let the breeder create enough family trade so he can dictate to 
the dealer as to the pioper price for squabs and you will see the 
general market going up by leaps and bounds. 




ONE OF THE SQUABHOUSES 

Mr. Jursek and his small brother (who delivers the squabs to 

customers) are in the foreground. 

My plant has cost me $525. I have never used my savings oi 
any part ot them, outside of the original pigeon purchase, but have 
let the squab earnings enlarge the plant. As I am giving all my 
time now to squabs, I erected my last squabhouse myself. I am 
going to put up another soon, and by this time next year I should 
be housing eight hundred pairs of breeders. I am going to leave 
this plant as it will be for my father to attend, and for myself 
build a new and larger plant in thj country and sell the output of 
both. 

No practical squab breeder should spend his time experimenting 
with crosses. We have in the pure breeds the successful squab 
plants. I like the Homers better than the Carneaux because 
I think they are hardier from their generations of breeding and use 
for flying races. In the case of Homers such as mine there is not 
enough difference in the weight of the squabs to make a talking 
point. 

The grain I am feeding costs me $2.15 per hundred pounds and 
my figures as to profits are based on that. 

If everybody interested in squabs could look at them from the 
selling end with the same eyes I do and realize the possibilities of 
squabs properly marketed, there would be some lively times in the 
squab industry. It is a daily struggle now with me to keep trade 
away. The methods of personal solicitation I have used are 
nothing new in other lines of goods, but few squab raisers use them. 
I like to get out and see people and talk squabs to possible cus- 
tomers. In some cases I will clinch the argument and make a 
sure customer by offering a gift of a sample squab to show quality. 
The methods I am using in Pittsburgh can be used in any city or 
large town. Go after the able-to-buy folks. Don't sit on the 
grain bin and expect thern. to solicit you, 



HOW I LOST ONE JOB BUT FOUND A BETTER ONE WITH SQUABS 



WHAT I DID WITH ONLY 13 PAIRS 



BY J. E. ROSS 



IN May, 1910 I purchased thirteen pairs of Extra Plymouth 
Rock Homers from the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, 
and as it is more than a year now since I received them, I 
thought you would like to know what they have been doing and 
what I have been doing. 

The birds arrived on a Saturday afternoon, and by Friday of the 
following week twelve pairs were sitting on eggs, and they are still 
at it. From the original thirteen pairs I have raised one hundred 
pairs of the finest birds that you would want to look at. I have 
not lost any old birds, nor have I had any sickness in the flock, nor 
been troubled with lice. 

Out of the thirteen pairs, nine pairs have raised nine pairs of 
squabs from May, 1910 to May, 1911, one pair eight pairs of 
6quabs, and three pairs eleven pairs of squabs in the same time. 
My squabs weigh from twelve ounces to seventeen ounces at four 
weeks old, the majority of them weighing from fourteen to fourteen 
and one-half ounces each. I sell my squabs by the ounce, five 
cents an ounce, to private trade. From July 20 until July 31 I 
have sold 104 squabs for five cents an ounce. I have eighty-two 
6quabs in the nest from one day to four weeks old, and twenty-six 
pairs of eggs, and others building their nests. 

I feed a mixture of Canada peas, red wheat, buckwheat, kaffir 
corn, whole round corn, lentils, millet and hempseed. I use the 
self feeder described in Rice's Manual. Late in the afternoon I 
put enough grain into the feeder to last all the next day. I find 
that between three and four o'clock in the morning the crops of 
the squabs are empty, and as the birds are up and about early, 
they can feed their young before they get real hungry. I find 
that this helps in the weight of the squabs very much. I feed 
only the very best grain. If I find that I cannot get good corn, I 
cut the corn out until I can get it good, and the same with any of 
the other grains. All the dirt and dust is sifted out of the grain 
before it is fed to the birds. The drinking and bathing waters are 
changed three times a day in the summer and twice a day in the 
winter. It costs m<; six cents a month per bird to keep my flock. 

I have many visitors who come to see my Homers. They all say 
that they are the finest they ever saw. They want to know how 
It is that my birds are always so active, that the pigeons they 
generally see sit dumpy in one corner of the pen. My birds are 



always on the go, never in one place long enough to count. They 
want to know what I feed them to make them so lively. I tell 
them that it is not the feed, but the breed. Then I tell them the 
difference between my birds and the birds that they have seen, 
all dumpy. I tell them the difference between my squabs and the 
squabs they buy in the markets. They are surprised and some 
say they don't believe it. Of those who do not believe what I tell 
them, I ask to go to the market and buy a pair of squabs and bring 
them to me, and if my squabs are not cheaper and better, I will 
pay for the squabs that they buy, and make them a present of a 
pair of my squabs besides. One man took me up on it, but I 
beat him out. One of the squabs weighed eight ounces and the 
other nine and one-half ounces. He paid $1.25 for the pair. 
This man is one of my best customers. When my squabs are 
ready to kill I do not wait for people to come to me, but I go to 
them. 

I will tell you how I came to start in the squab business. About 
three years ago I met with an accident on the railroad where I was 
employed, and it left me in such a condition that I was unable to 
do any work without sitting down to rest very often. I found it 
very hard to get work where I could do that, and as my small bank 
account was getting smaller, I had to do something very soon. 
A friend of mine told me of the squab business. I read Rice's 
Manual until I had it off by heart, then I sent for the birds. I 
have never regretted the day that I spent the thirty dollars for 
the Plymouth Rock Homers. I have sold several pairs of breeders 
for four dollars a pair, and have refused a number of sales at that 
price, for they are worth that much to me. 

As I went around in my Long Island town selling my squabs, 
the people would ask me for fresh eggs, so I decided to buy eggs 
and se'l them with my squabs. When I first started with squabs 
I was not making a cent. I am picking up from nine dollars to 
twelve dollars a day now with my squabs and eggs. At present 
I have more orders for squabs than I can supply, and my place 
will not accommodate another pen of birds. I am looking for a 
larger place now, and if I can get it I am going to put in two more 
pens of Plymouth Rock Extra Homers, and I am going to get 
them from the F_ymouth Rock Squab Co., so you can expect to 
hear from me again. 



Net Income of $4000 a Year from Our Squab Plant 



BY OSCAE MAERZKB 



I HAVE been in the squab business thirteen years. I have a 
mixed flock containing both common pigeons and Homers. 
The squabs from the Homers are larger and bring more money, 
and the Homers breed better than the commons. I make $4000 
a year profit. I always have run the business alone, up to last 
year, when I took a partner, Charles Lutovsky. In the county 
where we live (Wisconsin) many of the farmers breed common 
pigeons. We have an automobile with a rack on back to hold 
pigeon crates. My partner goes out daily in this automobile, to 
gather up the squabs from the farmers, covering regular routes. 
He brings them home alive and I kill and pluck them and ship 
them along with the squabs we raise. We have shipped squabs 
as far East as New York. Just now we are shipping to Chicago, 
about 150 miles distant. We use any kind of a second-hand box, 
provided it is clean and fairly tight, for shipping, putting a layer 
of ice on top of the squabs and nailing the box up tight. The 
empties are not returned to us. 

My home is half a mile down the street from the squab plant. 
I have built one residence from squab profits and am now building 
another alongside my present home. I put up the squab buildings 
myself, making them two stories high to save land and lumber, 
and also to save time in caring for the birds. Recently we bought 
an old building down town and moved it up alongside the present 
structures, and put a cement foundation under it, and have con- 
verted it into a two-story squabhouse which we are going to fill 
with about one thousand more pairs of Homers. We now (1912) 
have between eight thousand and nine thousand pigeons. _ Good 
Homers can be bought cheaper than we can breed them, so instead 
of saving our best squabs and raising them to breeding age, we 
always buy old Homers. 

It costs us $3500 a year to feed our birds, or a little less than $1 
a year a pair. At one time we sold the manure regularly to a firm 
of tanners in Milwaukee but for the past year or so they have not 
been taking any and we have let it pile up in one of the yards 
pending a sale of it. We feed wheat, cracked corn and whole 



corn mostly, as low as we can buy them. We feed the expensive 
hempseed only in the spring, as a ' onic, believing it gingers them 
up then and increases the squat - production. We have ground 
oyster shell of usual size. An important part of the daily ration 
is a wild seed mixture, bought cheaply. We get it from a brewery. 
It is what is left after cleaning barley for malt. The brewery having 
no further use for this refuse sells it cheap. It is perfectly clean, 
dry, sweet and good, however. The pigeons are very fond of it 
and it does them good. 

The squabs from our common pigeons and the common squabs 
bought from the farmers weigh about seven pounds to the dozen. 
They are smaller, do not look so good and do not bring so much 
in the market as the Homer squabs. The squabs from our Homers 
weight eight or nine pounds to the dozen and we have some ten- 
pound Homer squabs. When I started in the business a squab 
was a squab, no matter what size, and brought a flat price, but 
now, on account of the enormous number of superior, large-size 
Homers which Elmer Rice has imported from Belgium and sold in 
this country, the small size native American Homers and the 
common pigeons have been overshadowed in the markets. Squabs 
are now graded by weight when sold, and the more they weigh 
to the dozen, the more they bring. I have always sold to commis- 
sion men and dealers in the large cities. This is the ordinary 
German-peopled town of which there are so many in Wisconsin, 
and squabs cannot be sold direct to the consumer here. I went 
to New York a few years ago and made the acquaintance of squab 
receivers there, and shipped to New York for quite a period. On 
account of the much lower express rate to Chicago, we can do better 
there this year. 

We have no heat in our houses. In the winter the temperature 
goes as low as twenty degrees below zero. The squab production 
falls off some in winter and we lose a few squabs and eggs by freez- 
ing, but this is trifling compared to the cost of installing and 
running a heating apparatus, which is out of the question with 
our houses built and located as they are. 



HOW A SOUTH CAROLINA MAN MADE HIS PRICE FOR SQUABS 

HOW WOMEN TALKED MY SQUABS TO SUCCESS 

BY HENRY A. COOK 



IT was quite by accident that I got interested in the squab 
industry. A neighbor was working on a house in his back 
yard one day about two years ago, and I asked him what he 
was doing. He answered that he was building a squabhouse and 
showed me a catalogue. I became interested and sent for Rice's 
Manual. Having been impressed with my friend's Homers (Plym- 
outh Rock extras) and also by the clear, concise direction as set 
forth in Rice's Manual, I bought six pairs of Homers for a start. 
Squab raising is in its infancy here (South Carolina) and when I 
started in the business, squabs were selling at 12} cents a pound, 
at the highest. Dressed squabs were practically unknown. I de- 
cided to revolutionize things or not sell at all. Squabs were quoted 
in the evening paper every night at 12 j cents. I selected a list of 
the richer set and sent them private mailing cards, very much on 
the principle of those used by Lynn James, as described in the 
manual. About two hours after sending the cards, one of the 
ladies called me up and asked for particulars. She said that the 
papers quoted squabs at 12 j cents per pound, while I charged 40 
cents per pound. I told her that I had squabs for sale; not old, 
tough, common pigeons, but large, juicy, tender Homer squabs 
weighing ten pounds to the dozen — furthermore that I dressed my 



own squabs and every one left me in perfectly sanitary condition. 
She said that she would take a half-dozen as she was to have com- 
pany. I packed them and sent them to her. The next day she 
called me up saying that the squabs were the finest that she had 
ever seen, and would take another half-dozen. I got six other 
customers in like manner and all were well pleased. 

Women are prone to talk, and this was one instance where it 
did good. I was soon swamped with orders. One lady said that 
she was going to entertain and wanted squabs badly. When I 
told her that I had more engaged than I could supply, she offered 
me $5 a dozen if I would let her have them. I have a regular line 
of customers, to whom I send a postal card each month with prices 
of squabs printed and they are always in demand. I am trying to 
breed up to about 2000 pairs of breeders. There certainly is money 
in the business. In the fall when the chickens are in the molt and 
eggs are scarce, I can get most any price for squabs, providing 
they are good and tender. I draw my squabs and then remove 
the head and feet. Then I wrap each squab in a square of waxed 
paper, with recipes printed on it. I think this is a good plan as 
some people don t know how to prepare them. 



WHAT A BOY OF 19 DID WITH THREE PAIRS 

BY W. C. PRYOR 

TWO years ago I saw Mr. Rice's advertisement in the Farm damage caused by the rats and snake I have now at the end of the 

Journal, and received the catalogue which claimed that sue- second year 105 pairs of adult birds in three units and twenty pairs 

cessful squab raising could be started without experience and of youngsters in the old barn loft, which I now use as quarters for 

with little capital. As I had no experience and very little capital young birds. 

I thought that possibly I might succeed. So I invested in three I raised in the second year 272 pairs of squabs. Ninety pairs I 

pairs of extra Homers and the National Standard Squab Book, saved; 182 pairs were sold and I stood as follows: 

which has always been a great guide to me. I put those three pairs 105 pairs of breeders 

of fine birds in the loft of an old barn, sixteen by twenty, which I 20 pairs of youngsters 

had fitted up at an expense of two dollars. They soon began to 182 pairs of squabs sold for $121.65 

increase and at the end of the first year these three pairs had raised 5700 pounds of mixed grain cost 79.80 

fifty-one squabs. Fifteen pairs of the best ones I saved. Twenty- 400 pounds of grit 7.20 

one I sold to a Delaware dealer for twenty cents each. Three pairs 15 pairs breeders 20.00 

of the young birds which I had saved raised six squabs each. One Expressage and other expenses 5.25 

pair raised three squabs and four pairs had raised one pair young These are correct figures showing actual results in actual practice, 

each at the end of the first year. Seven pairs of these squabs I and demonstrating the value of this breed of pigeons. I have very 

saved. I sold the remaining nineteen squabs. Thus at the end of little disease among my birds, having lost from sickness only three 

the first year I had fifteen pairs of breeders and ten pairs of young- old birds and five youngsters in two years. I ship my squabs to 

sters from two to four months old. Had sold thirty squabs at New York commission men, receiving about four dollars per dozen, 

twenty cents each, six dollars. The cost of feed amounted to $5.20. I have also sold a few pairs in the nearest town, where I have a small 

In the spring of the second year a snake crawled into my loft and private trade. My squabs weigh eight and nine pounds per dozen, 

took about ten pairs of eggs and squabs before I caught it, and I am satisfied with what my small flock has done and is doing, so 

rats caused me trouble. These and the snake destroyed between satisfied that I intend to increase them as fast as conditions will 

twenty and twenty-five pairs of eggs and squabs. Seeing that the allow. I am nineteen years old and work on my father's farm, 

rats would entirely destroy my flock, I built an up-to-date rat- where I have a good opportunity for squab raising. Any one with 

proof house twelve by thirty and purchased some Carneaux, these intelligence or any ambition can successfully raise pigeons, provid- 

representing a separate investment. Moving the birds to their ing the start is made with the right kind of breeding stock, such as 

new quarters delayed them some, but taking into consideration the I have, that raise heavyweight, plump, white-flesh squabs. 



FIVE-CENT PERCH 

A good, 
strong pigeon 
perch, very 
much in de- 
mand be- 
cause it is 
CHEAPER 
than any- 
thing, even 
home-made. 

Put up in a jiffy with half-a-dozen turns of the 
wrist. For all breeds of pigeons. Rigid and 
strong. Screw them against the walls of the 
squabhouse, wherever there is room. The block 
Is of well-seasoned hardwood. Price only five cents. Sixty cents 
a dozen. Five dollars a hundred. Sample, postage paid for 
ten cents. 




HAND GRINDING MILL 
$4.00 



Cracked Corn for a nigeon and squab 
plant should be made from day to day 
from the whole corn, as needed. _ If 
bought cracked, or kept too long, it is 
liable to take up moisture from the air 
and spoil. There is a lively demand 
for this popular hand grinding mill. 
Grinds not only cracked corn, but also 
Canada peas, oats, rye, barley, dry 
bones, shells, etc. Make your own 
grit and shell. This handy little mill 
will pay for itself on a squab plant 
inside of a month. Easy to run. 
Shipping weight, 35 pounds. Price 
f. o. b. Boston, $4.00. 




WE ARE the FOUNDERS of the SQUAB INDUSTRY in AMERICA 



Are Squabs in Demand? Yes, They Are, and They Sell, 

Pound for Pound, for More Than Double the Prices 

of Chickens, Ducks and Turkeys. Recent 

Winter and Summer Quotations of 

$7.50, $6, $5 and $4 a Dozen 



SQUABS are still increasing in price all over the country, the 
demand being greater than the supply, although the supply 
has been increasing steadily for several years. In Boston, 
both wholesale and retail prices are higher than we have ever 
known. 

When squabs weighing eight pounds to the dozen sell for $6 a 
dozen, this means that the buyer pays seventy-five cents a pound; 
ten pounds to the dozen at $7 a dozen, seventy cents a pound; 
twelve pounds to the dozen at $7 a dozen, sixty-seven cents a 
pound. New York prices are running even higher, as they always 
do. 

These figures tell how highly profitable it is to breed squabs. 

The squab breeder can hold up his head in a company of any 
poultry men, because when chickens are selling at twenty-five cents 



to thirty-five cents a pound, his product alongside is selling for 
more than double. 

The Boston Daily Globe prints every Friday afternoon or 
Saturday morning the current market quotations for poultry, 
game, fruits, vegetables, etc. In 1914 and 1915 uptodate the quo- 
tations for squabs have been from $5 to $7.50 per dozen, only 
falling to $4 a dozen rarely. The New York, Philadelphia, Chicago 
and Pittsburg markets for squabs are larger than Boston and pay 
higher prices. For more quotations on squabs, see our latest 
Manual. 

The Niagara of squabs is pouring into the big city markets daily 
by the thousands of dozens, and dealers are clamoring for more 
The dealers make a higher percentage of profit on squabs than they 
do on chickens, ducks, turkeys or meat, and they push them ahead 
at every opportunity. 



•o^^G^G^G'DG^ii^CgCsj&a&s 



Winnings of a Plymouth Rock Customer— Why Squabs Earn 
More Profits Than Broilers and Eggs 



BY RAY BROWN 



IT may interest you to know that at the 1912 Inter-State Poultry 
and Pigeon Show, Rutland, Vt., with the competition open to 
the world, and every class filled, we won sixteen first prizes 
out of a possible sixteen entries, and fourteen seconds and two 
thirds out of a possible sixteen entries for second places on adult 
Homer pigeons. We also won the association special for the best 
display of one hundred birds or more, and first and second prizes 
on the best display of ten buds or more. On dressed squabs we 
made a clean sweep, winning every prize offered. Every bird 
shown was bred from the (twenty-five pairs) foundation stock 
direct from the Plymouth Rock Squab Co. 

Regarding the squab business vs. the chicken and egg business, 
I will give you as clear a comparison as possible, based on facts, 
obtained from my own experience, of which I have had much, in 
nearly all branches. This experience compels me to state that 
with a much smaller capital, much less room, less labor and 
experience the squab business can be put onto a profit-pay- 
ing basis much sooner and with larger returns from the amount 
invested. 



The person who can write the check and employ an expert can, 
in most cases, make a success of the poultry business, but the 
willing person with little capital and no experience had better 
invest in squabs, for which there is a constant demand with much 
less competition. 

Squabs properly housed does not mean expensive buildings and 
elaborate fixtures. Build your squab houses plain and cheap. 
Put the extra money saved into the quality of stock you start. 
Buy the best and save money and time in the end. 

The trouble with ninety per cent of the people who have started 
and made a failure of the squab business, if traced back, will be 
found to be cheap foundation stock, which, in my opinion, is the 
most expensive start that can be made. Get the best or none at all. 

Don't turn to the advertisements looking for something for 
nothing, then sit down and write to several of those who are selling 
out cheap, and then spend time looking over their answers several 
times to be sure you are buying from the cheapest offer. Buy the 
best. Good squab breeders are usually worth the price asked and 
cheap squab breeders are not. 



^^C^C^C^^C^CgC^GjC^tj 



This Customer's Success Was Made Possible by Plymouth 
Rock Homers and Plymouth Rock Instruction 



IT is amazing, in our business, to what the careful handling of 
small orders has led. Lynn L. James was an experienced 
poultryman who had always made money selling chickens and 
eggs. When our books interested him in squabs, in 1908, he ordered 
only three pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers, and for several 
months we heard no more from him. Then came a check for $1 16.29 
with this letter: "The birds (three pairs) I bought of you in Febru- 
ary, 1908, are doing finely. Have raised three and four pairs each, 
squabs weighing at twenty-five days from fourteen to nineteen 
ounces alive. I have several pairs more, all raised from your 
Extras, so I have about 155 birds altogether now. I am clearing 
out the chicken pens and am filling them with pigeons as I am fully 
convinced they are a much better paying proposition than the 
chickens. You took such pains with my little drib, and the 
birds have done so well, you people get the rest of the orders. 
I have the largest birds in the city, and they attract much atten- 
tion from the hundreds of visitors at my poultry yards. The 



Manual if a gem. It is plain enough for any one and I really think 
I have it memorized. I have several other works on pigeons, but 
have laid them away. They are not in the same class. The market 
is good here, my birds bringing from $4.50 to $8.00 a dozen, all 
family orders. I have worked them right into my chicken and egg 
customers. Could sell fifty pairs of squabs a day if I had 
them." — Lynn L. James. 

Mr. James tells the story of his success with squabs in his own 
words on the next page. As will be noted, he introduced his fine 
stock by the circulation of common postcards, which anybody may 
have printed, and which, since he showed how, are now in regular 
use by hundreds of squab breeders. 

When he speaks of our Manual, he means our cloth-bound 
instruction book, 416 pages, fully illustrated, written by Elmer C. 
Rice, entitled the "National Standard Squab Book," price, post- 
age paid, one dollar. Send post office or express money order or 
United Sutes two-cent stamps 



PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUABS, THE SQUABS THAT MADE SQUABS PAY 



HOW I SELL SQUABS FOR $6 A DOZEN 



BY LYNN L. JAMES 



MY introduction to squabs came through buying only three 
pairs of Homers on February 15, 1908. I was then, 
and had been for some years, a breeder of high-grade 
poultry, single-comb white, buff and brown leghorns. I had 
read a good deal about squabs. Being over-cautious, perhaps, 
I started with only the three pairs. I bought them at the right 
place and my experience with them was so encouraging, they 
did so well, that on July 25, 1908, 1 invested a hundred dollars 
In sixty pairs more from the same concern. These kept on 
with the good work and I bought fifty pairs more. 

I certainly have had unbounded success and have been 
obliged to add steadily to my buildings as my business grew. 
I have discarded poultry. All pigeons for me. As the old 
saying goes, they have chickens " beaten to a frazzle " — and 
I did exceedingly well with them also. 

I built an exhibition pen for the poultry show after my own 
Ideas. The nests contained squabs of all ages with the old 
birds caring for them, all finished in red and white same as 
my coops are. The newspapers gave it a good notice. 

I have exhibited at various places this fall and winter in hot 
competition and taken all the first and second prizes, and it 
all helps my advertising as my cards, etc., are all trade- 
marked. I am breeding from 200 pairs now, getting from 
$3.50 to $6 per dozen. I sold S24 worth of squabs yesterday 
and turned away telephone orders amounting to $12.50 since 
noon today, but won't do that long. 

People here say they never saw such large squabs. I am 
getting the whole city stirred up over it. 

The mortality list is very small compared with chickens, 
and squabs are less work, while for profit, well, chickens may 
as well quit trying. I have all three hospitals ordering squabs, 
and hotels clamoring for even the smallest. It's great, I tell 
you. 

The card with which I get orders is what is known as a pri- 
vate postcard. On the front is a place for the one-cent stamp 
and the address of the customer. On the back is the following 
printed matter, the places for the prices being left blank and 
filled in by pen when the card is sent out. 

(Fullface type indicates what is filled in by pen): 

Eat Plymouth Rock Squabs 

We are pleased to quote you prices on fresh Squabs for the 
month of February, as follows: 

Prime, 10 lbs. to doz., per doz. $6.00 

No. 1, 8 to 9 lbs. to doz., per doz. $5.25-5.50 

No. 2, 6 to 8 lbs. to doz., per doz. 3.75-4.50 

Unpicked Squabs twenty-five cents per dozen less the above 
prices. Telephone orders given prompt and careful attention. 
Bell Phone 1208-R. People's Phone 710-R. 
JAMES' SQUAB YARDS 143 REGENT STREET 

I send out the above postal card (no letter under a two-cent 
stamp needed) to past and prospective customers, once a week, 
or as needed, and tliey order by either of the two telephone 
systems or by postal or letter. 

Later I advanced prices so that the postal card read as 
follows: 

Prime, 9 to 12 lbs. to doz., per doz. $6.00-7.00 

No. 1 , 8 to 9 lbs. to doz. , per doz. 4.75-5.75 

Summer trade was excellent, squabs averaging from $4.50 
to $5.50 a dozen all summer. Most of the summer orders were 
shipped to our nearby summer resorts, and mostly to my 
regular customers, who spend their winters here in the city. 
The squabs made good everywhere they were sent, and I find 
that the dinner parties where they were served have brought 
me more orders from some at a distance who attended these 
parties. They write like this: " We ate squabs from your 

place at a dinner party given by Mrs. at this 

summer, and they were so much nicer than we were able to 
procure here, would like you to supply us this winter. Kindly 
send your price-list card each month to keep us posted." 
The cards are the cheapest advertising possible, reaching right 



to the home and buyer, and are a constant reminder where 
fresh squabs can be procured. 

In dressing my squabs for my retail trade, I always cut the 
heads off, as the illustration shows. I use the killing machine 
instead of sticking. They are then picked clean, hung up and 
the heads cut off where the neck was broken. Then if any 




BEFORE AND AFTER KILLING 

A pair of Mr. James* squabs. The live ones were twenty-nine days old 
and weighed alive thirty-six ounces. The same pair are shown dressed 
weighing exactly one pound each. They were part of a seven-dollar order 
filled by Mr. James. He cuts off the heads for his family trade, but 
breeders who ship to market generally leave them on. (See our Manual.) 

grain remains in the crop it can be very easily removed. ] 
find a great advantage in dressing this way as squabs can bf 
killed any time of day and can be sent out with empty crops 
Aftei bleeding, I plump for a half hour in cold water with a 
pinch of salt, and then hang up to dry, or if in a big hurry, dry 
well on a piece of white cloth. Each head is wrapped in a 
small square of waxed paper and then each squab is wrapped 
by itself. I pack in pasteboard boxes upon which my seal 
is put, with address of the customer. 

Of course this all takes time and care, but when you hear 
again from pleased customers and the five, six or seven dollars 
come in for a dozen squabs, you feel amply paid for all trouble. 
And I find every day that it pays to be particular with the 
smallest things, and pays well, for from these small things, 
greater ones will surely grow. We added a fine four-unit 
house last spring to meet increasing trade, and this fall were 
forced to add two more houses, bringing the total up to six 
now in use, and active use at that. 

When I think that I started with so few birds, and have 
increased to the present capacity, I give most of the credit 
for it to the style of advertising I have used and am using now. 



PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUABS, THE SQUABS THAT STARTED SQUABS 



It has proven that it pays, and pays well. It is a well-known 
fact that no business can prosper these times without the liberal 
use of advertising, and keeping everlastingly at it. There 
are so many people start up a business, make a big advertising 
splurge for a few months, become well known, or think so, stop 
advertising, and last about a month after. But when your 
advertising reaches the buyer month after month, year after 
year, they cannot forget you are still " doing business." 



People have asked me why I did not stop sending out cards 
now that I have a good trade, but they get the same reply, 
that I am not going to let them forget me. The better the 
grade of printing you use, the better the returns in proportion 
You cannot send cheap, poorly arranged matter to the besi 
class of trade and expect to have it receive attention. As 
most people judge a man's business by the advertising he doe 
it pays to use the better grade. 



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We Started the New Century American Squab Industry 



THE squab industry in America was founded by us. It 
is a twentieth century industry which in 15 years has 
grown to enormous proportions. 
Take a look back 15 years and see what squabs were then: 
traffic of no volume, squabs poor and dark, weighing six to 
eight pounds to the dozen. Now: traffic of enormous volume, 
squabs first-class, squabs from common pigeons practically 
out of the markets, squabs weighing from eight to twelve 
pounds to the dozen. The million Homers and Carneaux we 



have sold, now increased by breeding to millions, have beeii 
the material with which the readers of our books have 
worked, and these seed-stock squab pigeons are making the 
markets of America. 

The squab business as developed by us in the United States 
has no parallel in any part of the world ; we have shipped our 
breeding stock to the principal foreign ports, and the sun never 
sets on our pigeons or our instruction book in the home of 
some squab breeder. 



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Squabs are Killed and Marketed When Four Weeks Old 



WE learned methods of breeding which results prove to 
be far ahead of squab breeding methods commonly 
employed, and this knowledge, given to our customers, 
Is a long step toward success. 

Squabs are bred by our system surely and profitably, and 
the market is waiting, in every civilized place where men and 
women eat good things. It is truly a wonderful market, 
clamorous for good squabs, and paying fancy prices for them. 

Squabs are bred profitably in connection with poultry or 
as a separate specialty. In squab raising, there are few losses 
to figure. The birds are strong and rugged, and thrive in any 
part of the United States or Canada, in any climate and at all 
seasons. 

Squabs are young pigeons. In the markets you will find 
not the squabs of the common kind of pigeons which you see 
flying about in the city and country (although the ease with 
which these pick up a living under adverse circumstances, is 
a good illustration of their hardy qualities), but the squabs 
of Homer pigeons. The Homer pigeons produce fastest the 
best young for the table and are used almost invariably by the 
intelligent and successful squab breeders. Common pigeons 
are cheap and easily found, but the Homers are worth from $2 
to $2.50 a pair because the squabs they produce are marketable, 
while the squabs of common pigeons are small and skinny, and 
worth as squabs only about $1 or $1.50 a dozen. It is import- 
ant for the beginner to get this distinction firmly fixed in mind. 

The squab is sent to market when it is three to four weeks old. 
At that time it is large, fat, juicy and tender, just right for the 
table. It has not begun to fly at that time and you do not 
have to chase it about the yard to catch it, but pick it out of 
the nest and kill it. You will be surprised to learn that when 
only four weeks old the squabs weigh from three-quarters of a 
pound to a pound and over apiece. They do not move out of 
the nest in this period but are stuffed with food by their parents, 
and getting no exercise, fill out to a surprising size with the 
tenderest, juiciest meat. 

Squabs may be served in a variety of ways. When on toast, 
they sometimes pass for " quail on toast." 

You will find quail on toast itemized on the bills of fare of 
all the hotels and restaurants, but quail are hard to obtain, 
especially in summer time, so the chefs buy squabs and serve 
them for quail. Very few city people know that the delicious 
morsel on the plate before them is not really quail, but squab. 
It is fine eating and gives satisfaction to the most fastidious 
trade. 

The best hotels, restaurants and clubs serve squabs under 
their own name. Many diners prefer them to quail. 

Poultrymen, knowing the popularity of the squab, have in 
the markets what they call " squab broilers," but these are 
young chickens, not squabs. 



Poultrymen in most localities find it difficult to get good 
prices for their chickens, because competition is so lively, 
and also because the great Western producers and middlemen, 
aided by the modern refrigerator car, are enabled to put their 
goods into all the cities and towns at bed-rock prices. In 
many cases the poultryman has to sell at prices which yield him 
little profit. With the squab business it is different. For the 
last 20 years prices have remained steadily the same, namely, 
from $2.50 to $6 a dozen (the middlemen pay these prices, the 
consumer more). The demand is always greater than the 
supply. If a hotel, club or restaurant wishes a steady supply 
of squabs jo as not to disappoint regular patrons, it must 
arrange with a dealer in advance to take a certain number on 
certain days of the week, for so scarce are the finest squabs, 
and so great a luxury are they, that, as in the case of the finest 
poultry and eggs, they are seldom displayed on the stalls, but 
find their way instantly on arrival to the exclusive trade. 

The supply man makes from $1 to $3 profit on each dozen of 
squabs. Those squab raisers who have the time and the am- 
bition to work up their own customers, just as the dealers in 
the finest eggs, milk and butter work up private trade, cut out 
the profit which the middleman makes and take it themselves. 

In the markets of the large cities, squabs are sorted by the 
dealers or supply houses into three grades. No. 1, No. 2 and 
culls. The dealer pays the highest price for the fattest, 
tenderest squabs, known as No. 1 grade, and this grade is 
almost invariably produced by the breeders of intelligence who 
use our Plymouth Rock Homers. Culls are usually the squabs 
of common pigeons and common dealers. A breeder of squabs 
who starts right by buying our stock and attends to the breed- 
ing with full intelligence, gets the highest market price. 

For figures on cost of raising squabs, number raised, etc., see 
our cloth-bound Manual, the National Standard Squab Book, 
price one dollar. The figures there given are not theoretical, 
but derived from the actual experiences of squab raisers. 
There is a great difference between " counting your chickens 
before they are hatched " and after they are hatched and we 
have made no fanciful figures on squabs, but you will find in 
some articles on squabs enormous profits figured out. Such 
estimates fall short of the truth and do the industry harm 
among the unthinking, and sensible people take them with a 
grain of salt. There is no need of exaggerating the simple 
facts, which tell a strong story. 

Suppose you keep the squabs and do not kill them, but let 
them grow until they are from three to six months old, and 
thpn sell them alive, for $1 .50 to $2.50 a pair, to people who wish 
tc start in the industry. Squab raising has jumped to the 
front with remarkable strides. Since we began to advertise 
breeders, the market for them has been greatly stimulated, 
especially for Plymouth Rock Homers, because we urge the 



10 



SEE THE FOUR WEEKS* INCREASE M THE SIZE OF THESE SQUABS 



consumer in our advertising to ask for Plymouth Rock squabs, 
and we have made a market for this brand exactly as concerns 
like the National Biscuit Co. have made a market for specialties 
to the almost total eclipse of unknown brands. 

You can sell the live pigeons which you raise, by your own 
advertising, if you choose. Here is where the great possibili- 
ties of the business open to the resourceful and enterprising. 
A person who buys an outfit of breeding riymouth Rock 
Homers of us will work to raise breeders for his home market, 
selling to his neighbors, and those who hearing of the novel 
industry visit his place, or advertising and selling all over the 
country, just as we do. There is no limit to which each pur- 
chaser may develop his own market. It rests with him how 
great his income shall be. If his efforts flag, he always has his 
butcher market waiting for squabs, in which there is a fine 
profit. The squab industry differs from utility stock industries 
which are of great promise but which prove very disappointing 
because their market is slow, or not established at all. The 
market for squabs is ready all the time, summer and winter, 
the year round, at prices which always pay. 

In many lines of utility stock raising, it is necessary to buy 
pedigreed animals in order to be successful, the process of 
rejection and selection having been carried so far that it is 
profitable only to own an animal whose ancestry is traceable 
to a record breaker. A common pigeon is easily distinguish- 
able from a Homer. There are no pedigrees in squab raising 
(although there is a profitable trade in pedigreed Homer pigeons 
for flying races). The squab raiser does not care for pedigrees, 
but strives to eliminate from the flock of Homers all but the 
strongest and biggest. 

The pedigreed Homers are bred and sold by the fanciers for 
carrying messages. We have all read about this instinct of 
pigeons, how when taken great distances from home they find 
their way back to the place where they were bred at incredible 
speed. Every squab raiser generally has a pen or two of 
pedigreed Homers, which he trains for the fancy market and 
with which he strives to take prizes. The pigeon fancy is 
firmly entrenched, the sport being very old, and is very profit- 
able. 

There are many varieties of pigeons which are bred for their 
good looks and adaptability as pets, such as Fantails, Pouters, 
Runts, Mondaines, Maltese, etc., but with them the ex- 
perienced squab raiser is not much concerned. Runts and 
Maltese are expensive, costing from $5 to as high as $25 a pair. 
They are poor breeders and either by themselves or crossed 
with Homers have proved unprofitable. When Homers can 
be developed like our Plymouth Rocks to breed, fast, squal" 
weighing a pound apiece, they are by far the best money-makers 
and it is a waste of time and money to experiment with big, 
slow-breeding birds. Our Plymouth Rock Carneaux which 
we introduced a few years ago are the exception to other big 
breeds in that they breed as many squabs a year as Homers, 
and the squabs are larger than Homer squabs. For these 
reasons they are worth more than the Homers. 

The squab raiser turns say 30 males and 30 females into one 
breeding pen together. At once the process of pairing off 
begins. The male searches for the object of his affection. 
Within a short time each has found his or her partner and re- 
production begins. Their usefulness as squab raisers continues 
for eight or ten years, and longer. No new blood is needed 
every year, as in the case of hens. Dozens of pairs of pigeons 
keep in the same pen, under the same wire netting. 

If you wish to mate a certain female to a certain male, you 
place them together in one pen for a few days or longer, after 
which they may be placed in a large pen with the others. 
This is the method to be pursued when breeding pedigreed 
stock for homing qualities. It is in common use by squab 
breeders when mating for plumage or for other characteristics 
which it is desired to harmonize. 

In breeding squabs for the market, you do not allow the 
parent birds to fly at random over the neighborhood, but keep 
them confined by wire netting in a flying pen. This is at- 
tached to the squabhouse. In the squabhouse are two nests 
for each pair of birds, and the nests are arranged in boxes 
about a foot square. In each box is set a nestbowl for the 
nest to be built in. Each nest is numbered, so that a record 
may be kept of it. from year to year. So when you go to a 
certain nest to get a certain pair of squabs, you know which 




is the father and mother, the cock and the hen, of that pair. 
In poultry raising, it is necessary to kill off the old hens once 
a year and introduce new blood. In squab raising this is not 
necessary. The same pair of pigeons keeps working for you 
for eight or ten years, and longer, producing the same strong, 
juicy squab all that period. If at the end of about eight years 



11 



yOU FEED THE PARENT BIRDS A\D THEY FEED THE SQUABS 



the squabs begin to grow small, the male breeding bird is re- 
moved and a younger mate for the female substituted. 

In starting a flock, one male for each female pigeon is needed. 
You cannot have one male for several females. 

The breeding pairs build their own nests with hay, straw, 
tobacco stems, pine needles, twigs, etc., which you place in a 
pile in the squabhouse. As soon as the nest is built the male 
begins to " drive " the female — he is anxious that she deposit 
the eggs. You will see him hustling her about all over the 
squabhouse and the flying pen, and he is content only when she 
Is perched on the nest. She lays two eggs, then she and the 
male take turns sitting. She sits on the eggs at night until 
about ten o'clock in the morning, then he comes and sits on 
them until evening, when she returns and he goes away for a 
rest. The young break out of the shells in seventeen days 
after the eggs are laid. They are ugly little creatures, in flesh 
tender, but in constitution tough as nails, and hard to kill. 
The old birds fill their crops with food, and then fly to the nest 
and fill the bills of the little ones from their crops. You do not 
feed the squabs at all; the old birds attend to that. The squabs 
grow with marvelous speed. In three to four weeks they fill 
the nest so there is no room for the breeding pigeons, which 
begin sitting and laying eggs again in the other nestbox of the 
pair. 

Month in and month out this process goes on, undisturbed 
by heat or cold. In the hottest days of summer the male or 
female bird may be seen sitting on the perches of the flying pen 
In the baking sun. In the winter they are perched on the snow. 
We have sold breeders as far north as Alaska, and as far south 
as Central America and Brazil. When our directions are 
followed as to housing and feed, success is certain in any 
climate. We have had customers even in Canada breed in 



squabhouses made of cotton cloth. Fresh air is good for 
pigeons, no matter whether it is warm or cold. 

Cold winter nights the pigeons take refuge in the squabhouse, 
flying in from the pen at sundown. You do not have to drive 
them in, they go in instinctively. 

On the ground at the end of the flying pen is a pan of water, 
renewed every day. At sunrise each day the pigeons go there 
and take a bath. They do not roll in the dirt — simply splash 
in the water. Their plumage always is in apple-pie order and 
a very pretty sight it is, the feathers about the neck sparkling 
with all the colors of the rainbow. 

There is no night work in connection with squab raising, 
as in i-he case of poultry. 

The feeding trough is automatic. The feed drops down as 
it is eaten. They do not gorge on this unlimited supply, but 
feed until their wants are satisfied, then go away. When 
they are not sitting on the eggs they usually are roosting on the 
top of the squabhouse. 

Their manure is not foul and ill smelling. Both pen and 
squabhouse are without odor. The manure is salable and is an 
important item of revenue. 

The feed consists of wheat, cracked corn, kaffir corn, Canada 
peas, hempseed ^nillet, barley and buckwheat may be fed, if 
in localities where these grains are easily obtainable), grit, 
oyster shells and salt, all cheap and easily obtained. No other 
food is given. No sloppy food is given and there is no mechan- 
ical preparation of the food. Each locality has its own grains 
readily adaptable to pigeons. Bread crumbs, crumbled bread, 
etc., may be fed. 

For detailed instructions as to kinds and quantities of grains, 
manner and times of feeding, see our cloth-bound Manual, the 
National Standard Squab Book, price one dollar. 



t&t&&®t#t&t&!£j&t£!'£!!£j 



No Heating Feed, No Night Labor, No Young to Attend 



THERE are many strong features about squab raising, as 
proven by the tremendous growth of the industry. 

1. No night work. When sundown comes the pigeons need 
no attention. The farmer or householder may go about his 
milking or other duties without thought of more stock to 
attend to. 

2. No artificial incubation. The female and male pigeons 
hatch the eggs. 

3. No feeding of youngsters. You provide feed for the 
parent birds only and they feed their young. 

4. Light mortality among the young. In chicken raising, 
the greatest precaution must be taken to guard against loss 
of chicks. 

5. Little care needed. Feeding time is quickly over and the 
pigeons keep their trim, racy shape, not over-feeding, as a rule. 

6. Light labor. When the squabs are four weeks old, 
you take them out of the nest. Our women customers are very 
successful, being naturally fitted to the work. 

7. No need of new blood every year. A poultryman must 
kill off his old hens every year and introduce new matings. 
Pigeons produce for eight to twelve years. 

8. No fear of mixed breeds. The handler of line-bred 
poultry has to keep the cocks and hens separated except when 
matings are wanted. 

9. No bloody work. The killing of hens and chickens is 
always distasteful to women. A squab may be killed by 
tweaking its neck, or by using our killing machine, breaking 
its spine instantly and causing the bird no suffering. 

10. No plucking of feathers. Squabs may be sent to some 
markets with the feathers on. (In large plants, the plucking is 
done by hired labor, at piece work.) 

11. Few diseases. Canker is about the only ailment found 
In practice, and this never occurs when the feed is mixed in the 
proper proportions, and the right kind of grit used. The 
pigeon is one of the hardiest and strongest of feathered life. 

12. No change of methods with the seasons. The pigeons 
breed in all climates at the same rate, under practically the 
same feed. 



13. Good profits. Squabs bring more, pound for pound, 
than any other live stock. 

14. No range necessary. Space may be economized and a 
greater income produced from the same area with pigeons than 
with any other stock. 

15. A market all the year round. Squabs are eaten at all 
seasons and are salable at any time, and high prices are offered 
for them always. 

16. Opportunity for excelling. By study and the exercise 
of intelligence, getting out a nicely-printed booklet, postcards, 
etc., the trade of families and clubs may be obtained, which 
will pay seventy-five cents apiece and over for fine squabs. " 

17. Climate no bar. Squabs may be raised anywhere in 
the United States, Canada or Mexico. 

18. The plant grows as the business grows. It is not 
necessary to lay out several hundred dollars at once on a 
plant. Our unit squabhouse and flying pen may be added 
to as the business grows, just as with the modern style of 
unit book cases you may add units as your books increase in 
number. 

19. Small capital needed. A poultryman, even after his 
buildings are up, must have capital with which to operate. 
He does not sell anything for six months, the period in which 
roasters must be raised ending from September 15 to October 1. 
Then he must lay out money on eggs at fifty cents a dozen, 
about one in three of which proves productive, this making 
the cost of each chick about twenty cents, so for each chick 
which he has, he must keep twenty cents tied up until that 
chick is old enough for the market. A squab plant may be 
made self-sustaining from the start, the sale of a small part of 
the squabs raised paying for the feed of all. A squab raiser 
may begin and keep in successful operation on one-fourth the 
capital required by a poultryman. Those who are in squab 
raising are mostly people with small incomes, and they attend 
to their squab plants nights and mornings. Squab raising 
does not confine one's time and attention as does other farm 
work. If the owner wishes to go away for two or three days, 
he may go with an untroubled mind, knowing that his pigeons 
will be all right when he returns. 



12 



JVOT NECESSARY TO START ON A BIG SCALE TO BE SUCCESSFUL 

How Plymouth Rock Squabs Have Won the Markets- 
Thousands of Dozens Sold Weekly— Read What 
the Big New York Dealers Say About These 
Fine Birds and Our Successful Methods 



SQUABS bred from the pigeons we have sold, and their 
offspring, are going into the markets of the cities daily in 
enormous volume. They are not only a vast improve- 
ment over the squabs of ten years ago, but the magnitude of 
the demand and the supply is something almost incredible. 
Plymouth Rock squabs are what the consumers want to buy 
and what they are buying. There is profit in handling them, 
and the big dealers are after us all the time to furnish them the 
names of our customers who can ship squabs bred from our 
birds to them. In proof of what we say of our pigeons, and 
emphasizing the practical, money-making side of our business, 
we offer the following letters from the leading squab dealers 
In the city of New York, which is the richest and greatest 
squab market in the country: 

"KING OF THE SQUAB BUSINESS" 

A. SILZ, Incorporated 

Wholesale Dealer in Domestic and Foreign Poultry and Game 

416-418 West Fourteenth Street 

New York, December 2, 1907. 
Mr. Elmer C. Rice, 

Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, Mass. 
Dear Sir: 

In reply to your letter of November 27, the present prices on 
squabs you will find on the enclosed card. 

There will not be any let-up in the demand for squabs if 
the prices remain normal. The season for all game closes 
with the end of this month so there will naturally be a better 
demand for squabs after that time to take the place of game. 
We use from 175 dozen to 200 dozen squabs each day. 

Your squabs are very much better than others, and I think 
you have accomplished wonders for the squab industry, and 
every squat raiser should feel grateful for your efforts in this 
line, and you could very appropriately be termed " King " 
of the squab business. 

Wishing to assist you in your continued efforts to put the 
squab business ahead, we are, 

Very truly yours, 

A. SILZ, Inc., 

By Aug Silz, President. 



•get a quantity of plymouth rock breeders" 
william r. Mclaughlin 

Commission Merchant, Poultry, Eggs. Game 
Squabs, Calves, Etc. 
362 Greenwich Street 

New York, November 29, 1907. 
Elmer C. Rice, Esq., Treasurer, 

Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, Mass. 
Dear Sir: 

Yours of the 27th duly received. I am pleased to hear from 
you once more. If beginners will stick to your breeders, they 
will have no cause to complain as to size, quantity and quality 
of squabs, and net profits they receive from same. 

The demand is still good for all the fancy white large squabs 
we can get, and the market has kept at uniform price for a long 
time. In fact, since the new season started, there has been 
very little change in price. 

The small and mixed lots we must sell to out of town trade 
where everything looking like a squab goes at a price; while 
the city trade want the larger bird and are willing to pay for 
them. 

Many do not buy enough breeders at the start so that they 
can ship a fair-sized lot. 

I can use daily all the squabs I can get and do not look for 
prices to go any lower during the winter, — if anything, quite 
some advance. 



I think if any two need any praising as to results brought 
about, and profits to raisers, it is you and myself, as I was the 
first to introduce selling by weight according to size, and was 
laughed at for trying, even by those who would not now admit 
the change more than doubled their output. The one who 
does not like the change is the speculator who got the large 
birds for nothing, and the small birds at their actual value 
and made extra profit when selling to consumers. 

1 would advise beginners to get a quantity of your breeders; 




EXPENSIVE BUILDING NOT NECESSARY 

It is not necessary to put up an expensiye building to start squat 
raising. The above shows how an old outbuilding may be utilized fw 
pigeons by a beginner at trifling expense. The wire netting to form the 
flying pen in above picture cost $1.25. A flying pen 10 feet high, 15 feei 
wide and extending out from the building 20 feet is built with 850 squar* 
feet of two-inch wire netting, costing about $i. In our Manual we givf 
directions for transforming barns and old buildings into pigeon shelters at * 
trifling expense, and show how city people raise pigeons. 

keep free from other kinds. They will have no cause to fina 
fault with results, and will always have a market and demand 
at good prices, for they can raise and ship at any time of the 
year. Send me the names of your customers yourself and 5 
will post them as to the market, and send shipping cards. 
Yours truly, 

w. r. Mclaughlin. 



13 



•• USE NOTHING BUT YOUR BEST BREED OF BIRDS - 
HEINEMAN & CO. 

Commission Merchants, Fruits, Produce and Poultry 
Southern Vegetables a Specialty 

New York, December 4, 1907. 
Mr. Elmer C. Rice, 

Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, Mass. 
Dear Sir: 

We wish to advise you on prices and general run of squabs 
which a goodly number of breeders of your fancy Homer 
pigeons are shipping us. They are now selling from between 
$3.75 to $4.50 per dozen and, in all probability, will go higher, 
as the winter advances. There is a good demand for this kind 
of birds and we are receiving quite a deal of them. We can 
handle anywhere from one thousand to two thousand dozen 
a week as our trade constantly inquires for them. We can 
assure you that the breed of birds we get from our shippers are 
very fine, and we notice a large majority of these same shippers 
mention your name. 

The market at present wants squabs weighing between nine 



THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE QUANTITY OF SQUABS THEY CAN HANDLE 



and eleven pounds to the dozen, and we would advise any 
beginner to use nothing but your best breed of birds, as they 
are the cheapest in the end to him. 

We thank you for your kind consideration and past favors. 
We are 

Very truly yours, 

HE1NEMAN & CO, 



ANOTHER LETTER FROM MESSRS. HEINEMAN 

HEINEMAN BROS. 

Commission Merchants Dealers in Game and Poultry 

Diamond Back Terrapin 

217 to 221 Washington St., 78 to 82 Barclay St. 

September 24, 1909. 
Mr. Elmer C. Rice, Treasurer, 

Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, Mass. 
Dear Sir: 

We herewith wish to state, that with all our numerous ship- 
ments, we take great pleasure in noticing the fact that they 
use your breed of birds. This class of birds has given us and 
bur customers the best of satisfaction, we having no complaints 
whatever offered us during the entire past season. 

We have asked a large majority of our shippers where they 
at first purchased their stock to go into business, and find your 
name at the top of the list. 

There is none who takes such an interest in the breeding 
of squabs as your firm does, and we assure you that any one 
purchasing your stock will be satisfactorily recompensed for 
tiis venture, and will always be perfectly satisfied with the 
outcome of using your breed of birds. We can only say, they 



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FRONT VIEW OF ONE OF OUR HOUSES 
Showing hundreds of Plymouth Rock Homers sunning themselves on 
perches. This is one of seven pigeon buildings on our farm. 

are the best for them to handle, and past experience has taught 
us they will make more money in shorter time, doing business 
directly with you, than with any one else. 

Yours very truly, 

HEINEMAN BROS. 



" VERY FINE BIRDS— ABSOLUTELY NO LIMIT TO THE 
QUANTITY WE CAN HANDLE " 

NATHAN SCHWEITZER 

Commission Merchant, Dealer in Poultry and Game 

291 Washington Street, Near Chambers Street 

New York, September 29, 1909. 
Mr. Elmer C. Rice, Treasurer, 

Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, Mass. 
Dear Sir: 

We are very pleased to note the signal success of the Squab 
Magazine, and the small card which we inserted with our name 
has brought us numerous inquiries from all over the country 
from squab raisers, as to market prices and conditions, and has 
resulted in the receipt of shipments of some »ery fine birds. 



There is absolutely no limit to the quantity of squabs we can 
handle, and as our trade is constantly extending, we are anxious 
at all times to keep in touch with raisers of good squabs. 

It is a source of satisfaction to observe the better quality of 
birds now being received on the market, due, no doubt, to the 
eliminating of poor breeding stock, greater care and attention 
given to the keeping and feeding of the birds, and more intelli- 
gent dressing and shipping. All this is due, we believe, to th* 
educational efforts of yourself, and the testimony is present id 
the superior quality of the squabs now being received, as com- 
pared with a few years ago. 

We endeavor at all times to give our shippers the best pos- 
sible prices, make prompt returns, and are pleased to furnish 
all the information in our power. 

We wish to thank you for the courtesies you have shown us 
In the past, and with best wishes for success in your continued 
efforts to improve the squab industry, we are, 
Very truly yours, 

NATHAN SCHWEITZER. 



During the past four years the city of Pittsburg, Pennsyl- 
vania, has come to the front as a rich squab market. There 
are many rich families there, and they demand the best that 
is going for their tables. Squabs sell at retail in Pittsburg from 
$6 to as high as $10 a dozen. We have customers all over the 
Eastern States, as far West as the Mississippi river, who an 
shipping their squabs to Pittsburg. Those who live in the 
grain belt and can raise their squabs cheapest are being paid 
84.50 and $5 a dozen at wholesale for their squabs in Pittsburg, 
which leaves them a fine profit. Read the following letter to 
us from one of the Pittsburg markets: 

" LARGER AND BETTER BIRDS THAN EVER BEFORE " 
UNION MARKET 
Poultry, Game, Butter and Eggs 
No. 4 Diamond Square 

Pittsburg, Pa., July 15, 1909. 
Mr Elmer C. Rice, 

Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Boston, Mass. 
Drar Sir: 

We are very much pleased with the quality of squabs shipped 
us from parties who are using the Plymouth Rock Homers 
for breeders. 

I can truthfully say that since we put the small advertise- 
ment in magazine, we have been getting larger and better birds 
than ever before and I am more than satisfied. 

There is only one way of conducting a business and that is 
on the square, and so long as our shippers can produce the 
right kind of birds we are more than satisfied to pay the highest 
market prices. 

You may use this letter in any way you please to furthei 
the interest in the squab business. 

Wishing you success in your business, we are. 
Yours truly, 

UNION MARKET, 

By F. L Viers. 

When our customers who have bought Plymouth Rock 
Homers or Plymouth Rock Carneaux of us are ready to ship 
squabs, we give them letters of introduction to such firms as 
the above, which smooth the way for them. We help them to 
sell properly, which is quite as important as the raising. It 
has been our experience that squab breeders and poultrymen 
are successful in just the proportion that they know how to 
sell to advantage. If you are raising squabs from our birds, 
you should sell them for all you can get, and for what others 
get, and if your home market is slow, ship by express where we 
tell you, as thousands are doing. 

What is true of the effect of Plymouth Rock squabs in volume 
and quality in the New York market, as disclosed by the above 
letters, is true of any city in America or Canada, as squabs 
from our birds are going into all the markets now. 

Many people, especially those who live in the towns and 
small places remote from the cities, have never seen a squab 
or eaten one and have no idea of the magnitude of the industry. 
If they apply to their local meat peddler or butcher he, too, 
will be likely to say that he never ate a squab and never had a 
call for one. In order to convince such strangers to squabs that 



14 



OUR PIGEON HOUSES ARE LIGHTED A1VD CLEANED BY ELECTRICITY 



there is a waiting market for them, we print the following half- 
dozen interviews with poultrymen in and around Faneuil Hall 
Market, Boston. (See our Manual for detailed information 
about United States markets, and offers to buy squabs from 
consumers in every section. We give their names and ad- 
dresses and the prices they pay.) 

Swan, Newton & Co., Basement 1 South Market Street, 
Boston — " There is always a market for squabs and we will take 
all you can give us and pay highest market price. We cannot 
get enough to supply our demand. We will pay you a fancy 
price for fancy squabs. We pay cash for them; bring or send 
them in and we will give you the money. We like to have 
them dressed, and if you pluck them and pack them in ice in 
'the summer time and ship them to us in barrels we will pay 
you more than if they come to us with the feathers on." 

W. H. Jones & Co., Stalls 51, 53, and 55, Faneuil Hall Market, 
Boston — " We will take all the squabs you can give us all the 
year round and pay the highest market price for them. They 
are in constant demand all the year round, and we have no 
trouble in selling all we can get hold of." 

Nathan Robbins Co., Stalls 33 and 35, Faneuil Hall Market, 
Boston — " We are always in the market for plump squabs and 
have plenty of customers waiting for them and willing to pay 
the highest price for them all the year round." 

F. H. Hosmer & Co., Stalls 10, 12, 14, 16, Faneuil Hall 
Market, Boston — " We will take all the squabs you can ship to 
us. Send them packed in ice in the summer time so they will 
reach us fresh. We will find no trouble at all in disposing of 
all you can ship." 

Charles A. Wilcox & Co., Faneuil Hall Market, Boston — 
" We prefer them with feathers on. We-have a brisk demand 
for them from our trade all the time, and there is good money 
in breeding them. They may be bred in connection with 
poultry very profitably. From the first of May until in the 
fall we can obtain no quail. During the winter we get our 
quail from the West like all the Boston dealers. Squabs are 
as good as quail, in fact some people prefer them, and the fact 
that we are able to obtain them the year round makes them the 
staple article." 

W. H. Rudd, Son & Co., 40 North Street, Boston—" We are 
now in July and August handling about 150 squabs a day, and 
can sell all you can give us, and pay you the highest market 
prices. They are a staple article, and there is good money in 
raising them. In the fall and winter months we handle 
quantities of them. They come to us both with the feathers 
on and plucked. We get a great many from Philadelphia 
because the New England breeders cannot begin to supply the 
Boston demand." 

The other poultry dealers in Boston will tell you the same 
story. If you live near New York or Philadelphia, Chicago 
or New Orleans, or within a day's travel of one of these places, 
or of any large city, and are thinking of going into squab raising 
to make money, go to that city and you will find plenty of 
marketmen that will talk just like the Boston marketmen 
above quoted, and who will take all the squabs you will givs 
them. Two days' distance to market is no drawback. Squab 
raisers who live in any part of New England ship to the Boston 
market if they do not care to work up a private trade nearer 
home. We have customers as far west as South Dakota who 
ship to the New York market. 

The Boston firms above quoted dress the squabs, keep them 
in cold storage and resell them day by day to such buyers as 
Young's, Parker's, Touraine, Adams House, the Somerset, the 
Thorndike, the Brunswick, the Vendome and other numerous 
hotels, the Exchange, Suffolk, Union, University, Algonquin, 
Boston Athletic and other dining clubs, Armstrong's, Marston's 
and other high-class restaurants, and to the thousands of 
families in Boston's home-section for the rich, the Back Bay, 
who demand gilt-edged farm products and pay the highest 
prices. In turning over the squabs to these buyers, the mar- 
ket middlemen make from twenty-five to one hundred per cent 
profit. So it is plain that if any squab raiser has the enterprise 
to sell direct to the consumer (as many farmers do sell butter, 
eggs and poultry, circularizing a city section or calling from 



house to house) he can take the profit which otherwise the mid- 
dleman takes. The taking of this profit depends on your near- 
ness to a profitable community and your ability to handle 
a retail trade. 

In resort places, like Bar Harbor (Maine) for example, which 
well-to-do people visit, the market for squabs is best at the 
time the people go there. At Bar Harbor, it is the summer 
demand which is greatest. There is a branch Faneuil Hall 
Market there run jointly by the firms of Isaac Locke & Co. and 
Swan, Newton & Co. Mr. Cummings, the manager, told our 
Mr. Rice in the summer of 1905 (August) that they were selling 
twelve dozen to fifteen dozen squabs daily to Bar Harbor 
cottagers at from S3 to 86 per dozen, some cases higher. What 
is true of Bar Harbor is true of other resorts all over America 
in the summer, if they are summer resorts, and in the winter 
if they are winter resorts. One of the best-known winter 
resorts in America is Palm Beach, Florida. The great Flagler 
hotels there cannot be sure now of a steady supply of squabs 
so they do not put them on the bill of fare. No hotel will 
print on the bill of fare eatables of which they are always 
" just out," for that would displease patrons. The only place 
in Palm Beach in the winter of 1904-'05 where squabs could be 
obtained occasionally was the Beach Club, a special organiza- 
tion for dining, etc. Somebody in Florida is going to make 
some money during the next ten years by working up a squab 
supply for the chain of Flagler hotels from St. Augustine to 




ANOTHER OF OUR PIGEON HOUSES 
Our farm is at Melrose Highlands, Mass., a suburb of Boston, eight 
miles north of Boston, on the Boston & Maine Railroad. Also forty-five 
minutes' ride froni Boston by trolley. Visitors welcome ; admission by 
ticket, obtained free by mail. No stock shown or sold on Sundays, holi- 
days or Saturday afternoons. 

Nassau. Florida as a winter resort is looking up every year 
because it is really a delightful place and only forty-eight hours' 
travel from New York. 

There are some butcher shops and commission men in the 
large cities handling old killed pigeons for squabs. Unskilled 
buyers can be deceived, especially if the feathers are still on 
the bird. For such old killed pigeons the commission men pay 
only twelve and one-half cents apiece all over the country. 
It is not right for anybody to work off such old pigeons on the 
public as squabs, at the squab price. If you are making in- 
quiries, and a commission man says he will pay you $1.25 or 
$1.50 a dozen for squabs, tell him thct you are going to give 
him real squabs four weeks old, not common old pigeons. He 
cannot buy squabs at those prices anywhere. A good way to 
find out the market prices of squabs is to write or go to a com- 
mission man or other dealer and offer not to sell, but to buy 
squabs. In this way you will find out the true market prices 
for squabs and then when you are shipping squabs to market 
you will know what you should sell the squabs for, if you are 
selling to a dealer, to give the dealer a fair profit. Do not let 
him take it all. (For a full discussion of the markets and 
allied topics, see our Manual, where page after page of practical 
talk is given.) 

The leading dealers in Philadelphia ship also to Boston and 
New York; in New York are many dealers in Washington 
market. If you live near any of these firms, call upon them, or 



15 



DEMAND FOB SQUABS IS GROWING— GAME BECOMING SCABCEB 




FOUR STAGES IN THE PREPARATION OF SQUABS FOR MARKET 

The first picture shows squabs alive four weeks old: the second, the same squabs alive hung with wings_ double locked behind them ready foi 
bleeding ; the third, killed and after the coarse feathers (wings and tail) have been removed ; the fourth, fully picked and ready for packing. 



any firm handling squabs in any part of the country, anc 
they will tell you that they will take all you can give them. 
There are men who make it their sole business travelling 
through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and 
New York to pick up squabs from small breeders and deliver 
them to the cUy firms. 

Every city and town with a large poultry trade also has its 
squab trade, and the people who eat squabs are good diners, 
ladies and gentlemen whose cost of table does not trouble 
them, and who do not stint themselves in buying luxuries. 
The squab is and always will be a luxury and today, pound 




PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS THE BIGGEST HOMERS 
Our Extras are in a class by themselves. Their equals among Homers 
for size, weight of squabs produced or prolificacy do not exist. See page 
16 of this booklet for further description and prices. 

for pound, it commands a price a great deal higher than any 
other regularly available table luxury. 

PRICES STEADY FOR SIX YEARS 

To show you how steadily squabs have held to high prices 
during the past six years, in spite of the tremendous growth 



of the squab industry, note the following two letters. The 
first was sent us in January, 1904, from W. R. McLaughlin of 
New York. (The prices quoted here by him are not retail, 
remember but wholesale): 

" For the present and until further notice, we quote you 
market as follows: Squabs weighing ten pounds to the dozen, 
$5.50 per dozen; nine pounds, $5.25 per dozen; eight pounds, 
$5 per dozen; seven pounds, $4 per dozen; six and one-half 
pounds, $2.75 per dozen; dark, $2.10 per dozen. Would like 
to have all the squabs you can get. In case you have any 
good customers that are starting in, I wish you would send 
me a complete list of that trade, so that I can write to them 
occasionally, and post them on the condition of the market. 
Thanking you in advance for this or any other information." 

Six years later, in January, 1910, Mr. McLaughlin vvrote us as 
follows: " Squabs are scarce this month in the New York mar- 
ket notwithstanding all the raising going on all over the coun- 
try and the talk of high prices on meats and poultry. There 
is nothing now coming to this market that is or has been hold- 
ing its own as to demand and prices the past five years equal 
to squabs. There is an actual scarcity for all grades, and I 
am now quoting the (wholesale) market as follows: 10 lbs. 
$5-50, 9 lbs. $5, 8 lbs. $4.50, 7 lbs. $4, 6 to 6K> lbs. $3.25 to 
$o.50. Later (February 10, 1910). What better returns do 
squab raisers want for their investment in good breeding 
squabs than a good daily outlet for all they can raise, and a 
positive good return for money invested? There is an actual 
shortage at the following (wholesale) prices: ten pounds to 
dozen $6, nine pounds $5.50, eight pounds $5, seven pounds 
$4. The prospects are that these prices will be steady for 
some time to come." 

What the above classification of squabs means is fully 
explained in our Manual. By $6 per dozen, he means that he 
will pay $6 for twelve squabs (not twelve pairs of squabs) which 
weigh ten pounds or better. 

The above prices are not true of squabs bred from cheap 
stock. You have got to start with the big parent birds that 
we sell. 



*I We were the FIRST, the originators; our birds and methods made a new business of 
squab raising, and are widely and thoroughly copied. We have no agents — DEAL 
DIRECT WITH US. 

<!Our farm is located on Howard street, Melrose Highlands, Massachusetts, a suburb of 
Boston, eight miles north of Boston, reached both by Boston & Maine Railroad and by 
trolley. Visitors welcome; obtain a pass (free) by mail. Telephone connection MEL- 
ROSE 290-M. Mail address Melrose Highlands, Mass. No stock shown or sold on 
Sundays, holidays or Saturday afternoons. 

PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY. 



16 



THESE LETTERS SUPPLEMENT THOSE ON PRECEDING PAGES 



MORE SQUABS WANTED, 1916 



*^**** 



Recent Letters from Marketmen Showing the Increased 

Demand for Squabs, Always Ahead of the 

Supply, and the High Prices Now 



LETTERS from New York firms are on previous pages. Here 
are later letters, showing how the New York squab market 
holds up from year to year, and how big it is. What these 
buyers say of the New York market is applicable to markets all 
over the country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and south to 
Florida. If you do not know the hotels, restaurants, clubs, market- 
men, etc., in your nearest city, write to the Secretary of the Board 
of Trade in that city (enclosing a stamped envelope for his reply) 
and ask him to give you such a list. 

NEW YORK DEMAND GREATER THAN EVER AND PROS- 
PECTS FOR THE SQUAB RAISING BUSINESS NEVER 
WERE BRIGHTER THAN THEY ARE NOW. 

414-418 West 14th Street, 

New York, Oct. 9, 1915. 
Mr. Elmer C. Rice, Treas., 

Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Melrose Highlands, Mass. 

Dear Sir: At the present time there is an actual shortage of 
squabs on this market, there being not nearly enough received to 
supply the demand. As a matter of fact, the demand for squabs 
has been very active, not only now during the cooler weather, but 
even during the summer months, when the demand usually has 
been light, where local trade drops off, so many people being out of 
the city, the demand has been greater than in former years. 

There has been an actual improvement in the prices paid to 
squab raisersf or the past three or four weeks, and this improvement 
will continue with the demand as active as it is now, so that higher 
prices can be realized from time to time right throughout the 
winter, and even during the early spring months, where the weather 
remains cold. 

This consequently should be an encouragement to those who are 
engaged in the squab raising industry, and to those who contem- 
plate going into it. We are always pleased to note inquiries from 
these parties, which usually results in adding a new name to our 
mailing list, and consequent receipts of squabs from new sections. 
The greater part of these inquiries come from parties who are using 
the very excellent breeders which you supply. 

We might state, in conclusion, that the prospects in the squab 
raising business have never been brighter than they are now. 
Very truly yours, 

A. SILZ, Inc. By E. Flaurand, Vice-Pres. 

THIS NEW YORK FIRM IS NOT ABLE TO GET ENOUGH 
PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUABS FOR ITS CONSTANTLY 
GROWING TRADE — "YOU HAVE WORKED WON- 
DERS, MR. RICE." 

289-291 Washington Street, 

New York, October 9, 1915. 
Mr. Elmer C. Rice, Plymouth Rock Squab Co., Melrose, Mass. 

Dear Sir: We have noted with considerable interest the growth 
of the squab raising industry and we have proof of the improvement 
in the general run of birds that come to us from all parts of the 
country, so that we firmly believe that the quality of squabs is 
better by far each year, and that those who give to the business the 
same care and attention they would to any other undertaking in 
which they might be interested are receiving substantial dividends 
on their investment. 

You have worked wonders and credit is certainly due you for the 
perseverance and for the energy with which you have worked along 
the lines of educating squab breeders up to proper keeping, feeding, 
killing and dressing of their birds, so that the stock should reach 
the market in the best possible shape. The main difficulty from 
our stand-point is, we do not seem to be able to get enough fancy 
birds to supply our trade. While of course the market varies 
according to the inexorable law of supply and demand, there is 
never any danger that the consignment of any squab shipper will 
be sacrificed by us on account of a glutted or inactive market. 
Our quotations have always been made at a net price and we do 
not charge any selling commission whatever, and since it is our 
effort at all times to exceed the quotation of our competitors, we 
feel that those who ship to us are perfectly satisfied. We have 
testimony to this in the fact that certain shipments are coming to 
us regularly week in and week out for years. 

We also make it a point to get out our returns and remittances 
without any delay. Hundreds of letters are received by us during 
the course of the year, asking for information and mentioning your 
name and we are only too pleased at any time to furnish quotations 
or to give to shippers of squabs, or prospective raisers, the benefit 
of our experience. 

Thanks very kindly, Mr. Rice, for your courtesies to us in the 
past. If at any time we can be of service to you, please command 
us. Very truly yours, 

NATHAN SCHWEITZER CO. Inc. 



YOU CAN SHIP SQUABS TO NEW YORK CITY SAFELY 
AND PROFITABLY NO MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE — 
BUY YOUR BREEDING STOCK FROM THE PLYMOUTH 
ROCK SQUAB COMPANY AND YOUR SQUABS WILL GET 
A HEARTY WELCOME AND THE HIGHEST PRICES 
EVERYWHERE 

HEINEMAN BROS., located at the corner of Washington 
and Barclay Streets in New York city buy squabs from 
breeders all over the country. 

"See here," said Mr. Heineman, "I wish you would talk up to 
more of your people who live at a distance from New York that 
they ought to be shipping squabs to us. If they will use light wood 
containers like half a cracker box, or a candy bucket, the express 
charges will be only about five per cent of the value of the shipment, 
provided, of course, that more than two or three dozen are shipped. 
Although we are commission merchants and charge a commission 
when handling all our other goods like chickens, etc. , we charge no 
commission whatever on squabs. We buy them outright for $3 
to $5 a dozen, depending on how much they weigh to the dozen, 
and the commission which we do not collect goes a long way on 
express charges. Small shipments are neither for our interest nor 
the breeder's. We like to get them from five dozen to fifty dozen 
at a time. Breeders should stock up with more Homers and 
Carneaux from the Plymouth Rock plant of Mr. Rice, for we in 
New York give him the credit for the vast improvement in squabs 
here the last ten years, and the wonderfully increased volume The 
squabs which we used to get before he started importing stock from 
Belgium are now unsalable. We simply cannot use the squabs 
from common pigeons in this market, and do not want them. 

"The New York market is more active on squabs this winter 
than ever before in my experience. The demand here is growing 
every year and cannot apparently be satisfied. If I had ten 
thousand dozen squabs coming in today, I would have them sold 
in no time, but we can not get them. You know it is the new law 
here in New York that no game whatever can be sold from January 
1 clear to the holidays. Our game trade is gone never to return. 
As a substitute, we can sell only squabs, squab chickens and squab 
guinea hens. We do not cater to family trade. Our customers 
are four hundred to five hundred hotels and restaurants. We 
make our deliveries in our own wagons. The bulk of our orders 
are telephoned in from one to four in the afternoon and the squabs 
are delivered the next morning. When a hotel wants a lot of 
squabs like four hundred or one thousand for one dinner, it lets 
us know a day ahead. There are scores of big dinners given in 
New York every evening and orders for a thousand squabs are 
no novelty. We have a collector of squabs in New Jersey who 
picks up lots from small breeders and ships us from twelve to 
fourteen barrels a week. A breeder who is so small that he can 
supply only a dozen at a time should hunt up such a party and 
not ship direct to us. 

"More western squab breeders ought to be shipping to New 
York. We get lots of from ten to twelve dozen from Indiana on 
which the express charge is a few cents less than a dollar. I do 
not think all squab shippers know that squabs are carried for a 
less rate than ordinary merchandise. It is a fact. For example, 
from a town in the western part of Pennsylvania the rate for 
ordinary shipments is $1.70 a hundred pounds to New York, but 
the squab rate is only $1.40, and deducted from that there is an 
allowance of twenty-five per cent for ice. Tell your people never 
to pay express charges for ice used in shipping. Few express agents 
know of such rules for shipping squabs and should be told, reference 
if necessary being made to the rate book in every express office. 

"Shippers must not take out the insides of the squabs. If this 
is done they mould. They should be knifed, bled and packed 
exactly as Mr. Rice tells. We invite correspondence from all who 
are actually able to ship good squabs and will advise them at all 
times to the best of our ability. We certainly want their squabs, 
and more of them. 

"We are getting no squabs from Florida breeders, but we have 
shippers in North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and 
all the Central, Northern and New England States. Mr. Rice's cus- 
tomers are turning out the best squabs ever received in New York." 

INFORMATION AS TO SQUAB MARKETS IN OTHER 
STATES AND CITIES FURNISHED BY US TO CUSTOMERS 

IF you live in a State distant from New York and do not care 
to ship squabs there, but wish to supply the markets near 
you, write us after you have bought breeding stock of us and 
tell us what you want to do in making sales and we will give you 
letters of introduction to the best squab buyers near you who are 
acquainted with Plymouth Rock squabs and want to keep on 
buying them and this will assure you the best treatment for your 
shipments and the highest prices. 



17 



THIS WRITER SPEAKS FROM AN EXPERIENCE OF 25 TEARS 



Squabs Beat Chickens Five to One 



BY JOHN J. PATTERSON 



CHICKENS and pigeons are attracting attention and it is the 
common people who are interested in both subjects more than 
the rich. The all-prevailing topic today is the high cost of 
living. What causes this and what is the remedy? Remember that 
twenty-five years ago the acreage in the West devoted to feeding 
cattle was large and today that same ground is under cultivation and 
has become too valuable to be used for such purposes. Hence the 
main source of beef supply has been decreased, while the consump- 
tion has increased to 90,000,000 souls with a few more millions within 
our borders as visitors. These people must be fed three times in 
twenty-four hours, and the amount of food that is consumed every 
day is enormous. This food ranges from the simple hen egg to 
the best of meats and poultry, whether wild or domestic. Now 
the question arises, what can I raise to help reduce this expense, 
and at the same time what will it cost? Which will pay the most 
on the least expended? Take it for granted that the person has 
decided upon the chicken, we will discuss that subject first. 

A trio of chickens can be bought at any price, but as a fair 
price say $2.50 for three of some good breed. We have two breeds 
of fowls, the Asiatic and Mediterranean. To the first class belong 
the Brahma, Cochin, Plymouth Rock, Wyandotte and their prod- 
ucts. In the latter class we place the Leghorn, Minorca, Houdan, 
Hamburg and the smaller breeds. You will find that the average 
egg yield of the former is about seventy-five eggs per year while 
that of the latter is about one hundred and twenty-five eggs. Tak- 
ing the average, we have about nine dozen per year per hen. New 
York market will average say twenty-five cents, making a total 
income of $2.25. Deducting the cost of feed for that hen and you 
will have fifty to seventy-five cents profit on her. 

This looks well on paper, but as experience will prove in nine 
cases out of ten it will not work out. Last spring I said to a party, 
" How many hens have you?" The reply was, " About seventy- 
five." " How many eggs are you getting a day?" "Yesterday we 
got six dozen." " Very good," says I, " but how many did you get 
last winter?" " It was too cold for them to lay and we did not get 
many during the cold weather." " How much has it cost to feed 
them since last spring?" " I have not counted up the feed bill 
yet but I know now I am getting lots of eggs and selling them right 
along." The market here at this time was nineteen cents. 

Allow me to discuss those two answers. In the first place, the 
weather was not too cold last winter for hens to lay, but it was the 
fault of the owner that he did not get any eggs because he did not 
give them the proper feed, and if he had gone to the expense of 
buying beef scraps, beef blood and beef meal, with plenty of strong 
warm feed, his hens would have been laying right along when eggs 
at home here were selling for thirty-six cents per dozen ; and when 
the egg market dropped to less than twenty cents, his hens would 
be taking a rest and shaping themselves up for the summer months. 
But to pay high prices tor high cost feed and not keep up the annual 
egg production to a certain average, his thirty-six-cent eggs would 
have cost him forty cents at least if he had started in to count his 
feed bill for the year and the number of eggs produced. Maybe 
some one who will read this will say, " That fellow is off his base." 
Well, my dear reader, I only wish I had been off my base when I 
learned the above. Instead of buying feed for nearly 1000 hens 
and selling eggs for fifty-six cents, in New York, and losing money 
all the time, I would now be many thousand dollars better off. 

The great mistake made in the poultry business is that the aver- 
age person does not know how to figure cost of production and to 
get the required number of eggs per hen per year to pay for the cost 
of maintenance during the time the hen is not at work. The 
flock that lays basketfuls of eggs when eggs are cheap is a very 
poor flock to figure on. Your flock must keep up its egg production 
at least nine months in the year to leave you a balance that you 
are not ashamed to show your neighbor. To make money out of 
chickens as a paying business proposition, you must have good 
producing stock. I care not whether it is the egg or the thorough- 
bred bird you are handling, one will cost as much as the other to 
feed. Then in order to balance up the feed bill you will be able to 
add to your bank account a few dollars when eggs bring a. few cents, 
for thoroughbred stock, it you advertise properly, and in time, after 
your stock has told the story for itself in the different localities 



where you may ship, your thoroughbred sales will amount to 
more than your egg account. 

To a certain extent a little flock of chickens in your back yard 
will pay in the way of furnishing eggs for your table. Your flock 
is small, your feed bill is small, and the main cause of your getting 
eggs plentifully from that small flock is the table scraps, which 
apparently have cost nothing. In those scraps are ingredients 
that put the cost of feed for a large flock up so high that it is im- 
possible to provide the same elements on a large scale and make 
money without entering into some other field as suggested above. 
Strictly egg production or broiler production, without the thorough- 
bred market to help, is not profitable for any person to follow. 

The trouble with chickens is that, to place yourself in the proper 
position to do business, taking into consideration the cost of your 
flock, your houses, the room required and the twenty-four hour 
attention, is greater than the ordinary person will stand for, even 
after he has gotten himself into it. There will come a time after 
embarking in the business that you must come across, or every- 
thing will take the backward step and you will not know what 
struck you. 

Taking all things into consideration from a business proposition 
as to the question " Which will pay the most, chickens or pigeons?'! 
I feel safe in saying that the latter will beat the former every time. 
Any one can begin with pigeons for at least two to three dollars 
per pair. A cheap place will do, providing the rats, cats, and other 
foes are kept from them. No bother about preparing their nests, 
raising their young, and any pair of common Homers that will not 
produce at least six pairs of young in twelve months had better be 
sent to the kitchen and made into a pot pie. The cost of feed 
will be about $1.25 to $1.50 per year for that pair and their products 
should bring in for six pairs at least $2.40, but if you do not sell 
them and do as you would with chickens, keep their products for 
a year, you will find at the end of that time that your original pairs 
and their young will have made you quite a flock in the twelve 
months. The market demand for squabs is greater than for fowls, 
because you will find twenty-four men raising chickens where one 
is raising pigeons. 

The laws of the different States have become so strict relating to 
game that the squab is served up as game and the price will suit 
only the rich. The producer gets a better price for his output than 
in the chicken business. People do not buy squabs now as they do 
eggs. Squabs cost money at any time and the market is never 
overstocked. Eggs become so plentiful at times that they are 
thrown into cold storage and kept for unlimited periods. The time 
that it takes to turn your money in pigeons is about forty-seven 
days, less than two months, while the chicken requires twenty-one 
days to hatch, and at least sixteen to twenty weeks to mature for 
market. The cost of eggs for pigeons is small, while a setting of 
chicken eggs will cost anywhere from one to three dollars. I 
know of nothing that can be started on so small amount of actual 
cash, that will bring an income in the same length of time. 

The pigeon business has the same outlets as the fowls, market, 
thoroughbred and fancy, and there is still another feature that is 
so nearly overlooked that I must mention it. Along with the dif- 
ferent laws in different States prohibiting the killing of game and 
shipping it out of the States, there are also laws that prohibit the 
killing of fancy feathered birds, and consequently the white pigeon 
has become so much in demand for the trimming of ladies' hats, 
that a very good business can be built up by any one who will 
take the time and pains to handle it. 

After making up your mind as to which you intend to handle 
and giving either the same benefits, money, buildings and encourage- 
ments I will say (and I speak from an experience of over twenty- 
five years), that there is not and there can be no comparison as to 
the return for the same amount of money invested in pigeons or in 
chickens. The pigeons will beat the chickens five to one with less 
expense per year and less trouble and are a good deal safer business 
proposition. As to disease, the chicken will keep you up every 
night in the week. The pigeon may sometime get out of condition 
and possibly die, but the amount invested in the single bird is so 
small that its loss will not cripple you very much, where you may 
have invested in a fowl the price of two or three pairs of pigeons. 



18 



WE WILL REFUND MONEY IF OUR MANUAL, DOES NOT PLEASE 



SEND A DOLLAR FOR THIS BIG BOOK 



&J$$ji£h£h£j 



Our Manual Gives Precise and Full Directions in Clear, 
Easily Understood and Easily Remembered Language 



THE cloth-bound Manual which we publish, the National 
Standard Squab Book, price one dollar, gives the com- 
plete data necessary to success. It is a scientific but 
plain text book, beautifully printed and illustrated. In the 
beginning of the Manual, readers are advised to forget all they 
have read on squab raising. The early writings are antiquated 
and misleading and the beginner who starts with the common 
methods will work away from them just as we did. There 
are many points to be considered and in our Manual we give 
them all in plain, precise terms, so that even a boy or girl will 
not be puzzled, but will go straight ahead from the start. 
Here are a few of the points covered ; for lack of space we can- 
not more than hint at the very full contents of the work: 

An automatic plant. Using time to best advantage. 
How to handle 100 pairs of pigeons as easily as one pair. 
Skilled labor not necessary as in poultry raising. Where 
ancient rothods are faulty. How many pairs with which to 
start. Squabhouse and flying pen. Details for construction. 
Dimensions of the nest boxes and how to erect them. How 
to buy the lumber. How to arrange the flooring to keep out 
rats and dampness. Ventilation. Leaving shingles off one 
end. How to get plenty of sunlight. Management of win- 
dows in north side of house. Use of passageway behind nest- 
boxes. Separating the nests. Numbering the nests. The 
card index. Number of roosts necessary and how to build 
them so as to prevent soiling. Use of the egg crate or wind- 
break. How to prevent the droppings from banking up. 
Size of nestbowl used. A self -cleaning nest. Avoiding de- 
formed legs in the squabs. 

Flying pen and fittings. Proper mesh of wire to use. 
Weaving the tie wire. Location of the feed trough. Mode 
of using the bath pan. Trellising under the squabhouse. 
Construction of the feed trough in interior of squabhouse. 
Kinds of nests to avoid. How to remodel a poultry house. 
Passageway not needed. How to use a garret or barn loft. 
How city people raise squabs without any ground. Utilizing 
the upp^r part of a barn or poultry house. 

How to feed. Variations in the diet. What to feed in the 
moulting period, or time of extra strain. Management of the 
sait, oyster shells and grit. Where to keep the nesting ma- 
terial and how to assist the birds in their use of it. Selection 
of the corn. Feeding twice a day and all the time. The 
" clean-up " kind of feeding. Avoidance of an uncertain 
supply of food. No fear of the pigeons gorging. Salt fish and 
preparations of mortar and grit. How to feed the dainties. 
The relation of feed to the size of the squabs. Bathing habits 
of the birds. Management of the bath pan in cold weather. 

Breeding habits. Making the nest. Elaborate and rudi- 
mentary nests. " Driving " the hen. Laying the first egg. 
Time of laying the second egg. Unequal hatching periods. 
When an egg is not incubated. One squab getting more than 
its share of food. How to exchange the squabs. How the 
squab is fed. Secretions of the parent birds. What is eaten 
at ten days. When the " driving " begins again. Two sets 
of squabs at the same time from both birds. Extra work for 
the cock bird. Need of two nests demonstrated by the second 
laying. Taking turns in covering the eggs. Use of scraper. 
Whitewashing and scalding. 

How to mate. Equal number of cocks and hens in the 
same pen. Us? of the mating coop or hutch. The addition 
of new blood. How to replace a lost mate. Refusal to mate 
in the mating coop. Determination of the sex. Several 
different ways used to fix the question positively. Differences 
in the behavior of the sexes. Comparative value of Runts and 
Homers. Qualities which make the Homer valuable and how 
to accentuate thern Relation of color of feathers to the 
efficiency of the bird Value of white-feathered birds. Dark- 
skinned squabs. Plucking feathers occasionally from the 
undressed squabs. 



19 



Few ailments. Avoiding disease by simple precautions. 
Nature's plan for the survival of the fittest. Cause of canker 
and going light. Pigeons made tender by artificial heat. 
Management of the windows on stormy days. Most precarious 
period in the life of the pigeon. First matlngs in the case of 
the youngest birds. 

How to kill and cool the squabs. Proper dislocation of the 
neck. The right way and the wrong to hold the hands. Prop- 
er time of killing. Cooling the killed squabs. Importance 
of learning the right way. How to hang them from studding. 
Keeping away cats and mice. Arrangement of the finish nails 
so as to get a count. Driving off the animal heat. Clean 
crops. How to ship the killed squabs. When to pick the 
feathers, if you are delivering them plucked. Use of ice. 
Squabs that put on feathers ahead of the usual time. 

How to ship live breeders. Proper dimensions of the crate. 
How to avoid smothering. Size of tin cups and how to tack 
them. How to prevent water from being spilled. Trans- 
portation of stock long distances. Peculiar rules of the express 
companies. How to value the shipment. Recovery in case of 
accident. The animal rate and the merchandise rate. How 
to secure them. The live animal contract release. 

Bookkeeping. Marking the young squabs. Initials and 
numbers on the card index. Mating by the cards. Figuring 
ahead for the hatches. Figuring the amount of grain- needed 
by a flock. 

Trained flyers. How to raise and sell foncy flyers at high 
pr : ces from trained Homers. Use of the training basket. 
Preparation of the message. Construction of the trap window. 
Mating for best flyers. Mating for vitality and stamina. 
Breaking up an undesirable mating. 

Cheap breeders are expensive. Difference between the 
common and Homer pigeons. Characteristics of the Homer. 
Habits of the intelligent Homer contrasted with the habits of 
the common bird. Importance of starting with thoroughbred 
stock. Taking away desirable qualities from the Homer by 
mating with other varieties. Played out Homers sold by 
breeders cheap when they no longer prove profitable. 

Manure bought by tanneries. Soap in alkali. Manure 
should pay for one-third of the grain bill. 

How to estimate the number of pairs of pigeons which a 
certain house will accommodate. Variation in the size of the 
flying pen. Number of birds which can profitably be kept in 
one pen or in one flock. 

A few days leeway in the killing of the squabs. Sorting 
properly so as to get the highest price from the dealer. How 
one dealer remodeled a hog pen. A location near the sea. 
How to utilize a brook or river on your place. 

Advice to beginners on starting. How much money to put 
into buildings and how much into birds. Management of 
the flock in the summer time. 

Conditions of the markets in the various cities. The rich 
hotel and restaurant trade of New York. Interpretation of 
quotations in the newspapers. Relation of the price of old 
pigeons to squabs. The relation of the commission men to 
the breeders. Experiences of squab breeders with their pro- 
duct in the New York and Philadelphia markets. The Western 
trade. 

A wet sink cheaply constructed for the bath pan. Piping 
the squabhouse for running water if you can afford it. 

Full explanation of inbreeding and how to avoid it. Habits 
of the pigeon in a wild state. Darwin's experiments. Breed- 
ing for size and plumpness. Mastering the matings. Man- 
agement of the young squabs- if you wish to keep them alive 
and increase your flock. Breeding for finer plumage. How 
to handle thoroughbreds. 

Substitutes for food materials which are scarce in certain 
sections of the country. Use of buckwheat, millet, oats and 



MANUAL THE BEST SELLING LIVE STOCK BOOK EVER PRINTED 



the foods of various localities. Grains that produce fat and 
those which do not. 

Detailed construction of the self-feeder. How to make and 
apply the seamless band. Details of the timbering of the 
squabhouse. 

Questions answered. Packing in layers. Discoloration of 
the meat. Sex of each pair of squabs. Mating in one house. 
Larger nestboxes. Observation to determine sex. Details 
as to shingling. Mating of cock with two hens. Throwing 




PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS 

Notice the admirable size and broad-breasted frame of the birds and 
plumpness of the breasts. The old-fashioned, narrow-chested type of 
native Homer has been crowded out of the markets by these birds. Notice 
that Homers do not breed true to any particular color of plumage. 

Three of the pigeons shown in the above picture in this column are Ply- 
mouth Rock blue bars. The fourth (seen on lower perch) is a blue checker. 
Plymouth Rock Homers also come in red checks, silvers (ash-gray body 
color with red bars on wings) and splashed colors, also white. The white 
birds are smaller and not so desirable for squab breeding, although they are 
pretty pets. The color of the feathers has nothing to do with the color of 
the skin and flesh. The marketman always talks of squabs with the 
feathers off, and color of plumage means nothing to him. By a " white 
squab" he_ means a squab which has been killed and bled properly so that 
the blood is not coagulated and showing dark and blotched through the 
skin. The quotation " prime white squabs" means such squabs, and not 
white-plumaged squabs. Plymouth Rock Homers of any plumao breed 
the prime white squabs. For many other pictures of our Homers and the 
squabs which they breed, see our Manual, the National Standard Squab 
Book, price one dollar. Size, and not color of plumage, is the main con- 
sideration when buying pigeons. We can fill orders which specify color of 
plumage, but if you have in mind the breeding of squabs for market, or the 
breeding of pigeons to be sold to produce squabs, we send the plumage as 
U comes, both Homers and Carneaux. Our white Homers are sold at a 
special price ($2.75 a pair) and are not put into orders unless directly 
specified. Homers do not breed true to color. We mean by this that if, 
for example, you start with twelve pairs of our blue bars, you wiU get, _ in 
breeding from them, not only blue bars, but all the other colors in which 
Homers come. See Manual for further discussion of colors. 



away the old nest. One large flying pen for small flocks. 
The hinged backs of the nestboxes, etc., etc. 

Names of squab dealers and consumers in every section of 
the United States, and the prices they pay. How they wish 



squabs shipped to them. Squab buyers in the eastern markets 
getting squabs from our customers as far west as South Dakota. 
Express charges a small item in shipping. Details of the mar- 
kets in all sections. 

Need of health grit. Weaning the young birds. The killing 
machine, how to build and operate it. Nestboxes built with 
removable bottoms. Insect sprayer. Squabs in Chicago. 
Squab market quotations compared with the quotations of 
other table supplies. Management ol bath pans. How cus- 
tomers get high prices for Plymouth Rock squabs. Business 
management of a plant. Red and white wheat. 

History of the Carneaux. How they excel as breeders. 
Experiences in breeding them. How to breed fifteen pairs of 
squabs from one pair of Carneaux in one year. Plymouth 
Rock Carhomes. Carneaux and Homers in same pen. More 
about how to tell sex. How to keep down an excess of cocks. 
Squabhouses of two and three stories. Squabs fed artificially. 
Nests on the floor. How to get rid of rats and mice. How 
to make perches. Pittsburg market. Low quotations. 
How to kill cats. Breeding true to color. Sulphur or iron 
water. Pigeons that fly away. No coal ashes. Temporary 
pen and breeding pen. Twigs for nesting material. Clamor- 
ing for squabs in the State of Washington. Squabs in Okla- 
homa and Indian Territory. 

The last edition of our Manual, the National Standard 
Squab Book, which we are now selling, has illustrations which 
are especially good, showing as they do by actual photographs 
the different kinds of grains and grits used in squab raising, 
the good and the bad kinds, etc. These new pictures, educat- 
ing the squab breeder to buy the right kinds of feed, are thirty 
in number, and are worth much more than we ask for the book. 
We are told by buyers that they " would not take $25 for it if 
they could not get another copy," " worth ten dollars," etc. 
On page 308 will be found the Egg Secret article. It is told 
there how to build up a big flock quick, hatching only the eggs 
of the largest birds. No small squabs are hatched at all. 
You judge the bird in the egg without waiting for it to hatch, 
thus saving weeks of time. No apparatus required, only 
expert knowledge applied with common sense. Applies to 
any breed of pigeons. This one article alone is worth ten times 
what we ask for the whole book. 

Additional articles in our latest Manual are as follows: 
How to sell squabs in Boston market, why I gave up chickens 
in favor of squabs, how to get good feeders, how to keep mice 
out of grain troughs, a new way to cook squabs, how to venti- 
late with burlap windows, how a Missouri breeder ships squabs 
to Pittsburg, how to feed green vines, how the city marketman 
wants squabs, when and how to transfer squabs, how to make 
a ten-cent shipping crate, how one New York firm sells two 
thousand dozen squabs a week, matting straws for nesting, 
wire door for ventilation, how to train Homers to carry news, 
selling squabs by house-to-house canvass, how to bake salt 
in cans, how to cure squabs in nest of canker by the Venetian 
red treatment, flaxseed a substitute for hemp, why a woman 
prefers squabs to chickens, how a woman makes her small 
flock pay well, how to make valuable fertilizer with pigeon 
manure, recipes for squab pie and braised squab, how a Utah 
breeder started small and grew up big, how a big Ohio plant 
ships squabs, how to use twigs for nesting material, what one 
pair of Carneaux produced, Delaware hotels paying $4.50 a 
dozen, Canada squabhouse built of cotton cloth, North Caro- 
lina squabs in open air, horse radish and split peas, how to sell 
squabs for five cents an ounce, how to take pigeon pictures, 
New York City squab market booming, how to kill and pack 
for a city trade. 

We sell the one-dollar book on these terms: Money-back 
Guarantee. (We first made this guarantee in 1901, showing 
confidence in this Manual, and experience has proved that 
buyers like the book and keep it.) We guarantee our Manual, 
the National Standard Squab Book, to be the most complete 
and best squab instruction book published and that it will give 
satisfaction to the purchaser. If you do not like it when you 
get it, and do not think it worth one dollar, write us forthwith, 
telling us your objections, and when we get your letter we will 
instruct you to mail the book back to us. On receipt of it we 
win refund the one dollar which you paid for it. 

PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 
Elmer C. Rice, Treasurer. 
The facts in our Manual are absolutely indispensable and 
you can obtain them nowhere else. Nobody should undertake 
the breeding of squabs until he or she has given careful, intelli- 
gent study and thought to this book and made plans accordingly. 
PRICE OF MANUAL, ONE DOLLAR PER COPY, POSTPAID 



20 



THIS IS THE INSTRUCTION THAT IS PLAIN, SIMPLE AND STRAIGHT 

HIGH PRAISE FOR OUR $1 MANUAL 

This is the Book which Made a New Business of Squab 
Raising— Read What They Say About It 

/"\UR Manual, the National Standard Squab Book (by Elmer C. Rice), price postage paid, one dollar, was 

^■^ the first and original. It contains five times more reading matter and pictures than any of its score 
of imitations, and the instructions it gives are tried and true. Its facts are obtainable nowhere else. It is 
kept up to date by revision and reprinting annually. It is a phenomenal success, having established a new 
record in live-stock literature, not only in sales, but in the character of the indorsements given it. In 
the new Manual, Mr. Rice has completely revised and re-written the whole subject and brought everything 
up to date, and in its new form his book is the clearest, best illustrated, most comprehensive and most 
practical work, not excelled by anything in the live-stock line. Neither effort nor money has been spared 
in its publication, and the author was aided in his work of revision and preparation of new matter by over 
five hundred of those who had bought the first publication of his writings, among them being some of the 
oldest and most experienced pigeon fanciers and breeders in the United States. To show the high character 
of this work, we print herewith a few of the thousands of letters we have received. (The full addresses of 
any of these writers will be supplied, if desired.) We guarantee that you will be satisfied with this book 
when you get it, and will take it back and refund the money you paid for it if it does not please you and 
is not all and more than we claim for it. 



" Very useful. I could not get along without it. I have 
not lost one pigeon." — Frederick Small, Michigan. 

" Your book is worth while, both for a beginner and an 
experienced man. It is worth five times its price to any squab 
raiser. I have sent for many different books, but yours is the 
best and most useful. — A. Sossong, State of Washington. 

" It gives me much pleasure to state, after reading and re- 
reading your deeply interesting and highly instructive Manual, 
that I find myself utterly at a loss for a single suggestion 
that I could conscientiously offer which would act in the least 
to the betterment of the course now pursued by you, and 
which appears to me to be so entirely correct as to leave 
absolutely nothing requisite for its thoroughness and com- 
pleteness in every detail, especially so far as the commercial 
feature is concerned. For fear that I may have overlooked 
some point which might possibly permit of improvement, 
I have gone carefully over each page of your Manual, only 
to find that my opinion must remain unaltered. I have 
nothing but praise to offer for your work and method, which 
seems to me based on common sense and sound judgment, 
consequently your success is not to be wondered at. I send 
this opinion not as a novice in pigeon culture but as a fancier 
of at least twenty years' experience, fifteen of which as a 
breeder and flyer of the king of all pigeons, in my estimation, 
the noble Homer. You have indeed done the fancier at 
large a very great service in placing within his reach such 
an interesting and valuable treatise, which cannot fail to 
prove to novice and veteran alike a most acceptable aid and 
a safe guide in this truly fascinating and lucrative employ- 
ment." — Charles W. H. Burns, Maryland. 

" I received your Manual and like your method of squab 
raising very well. While on the farm, I raised squabs from 
common pigeons and we thought they were just splendid. 
When I moved into town, I bought a few pairs and have 
been managing them somewhat after your method, and have 
had splendid luck. We still think the squabs are hard to 
beat; don't know what kind they are but call them common 
pigeons; but I tell you if your Homers raise better squabs 
than these, I would certainly want some." — R. Creed Carter, 
Missouri. 

" Manual arrived all O. K. and I think that any one that 
Intends to go into the squab business and should chance to 
get hold of your Manual would not go astray." — W. H. Hall, 
Washington. 

" I have found a great amount of useful information in 
your Manual and it is given in a very clear manner. I think 
your Manual much better than any other that I have seen." 
H. B. Whitaker, Ohio. 

" Clear and comprehensive. The best treatise on pigeon 
keeping that has come to my attention. Strong details." — 
L. E. Jay, New Jersey. 

" Most complete book I have ever read on pigeon breeding." 
— John J. Flynn, New Jersey. 

" There were a great many points in it which I did not 
know before." — Gr over Barnes, New York. 

" Your new and enlarged Squab Book was placed upon my 
desk. It is certainly a grand work and does you a whole lot 
of credit. I am glad to have this in my office library for 
reference." — Michael K. Boyer, poultry editor Farm Journal, 
Pennsylvania. 

" I find Rice's Manual in a class by itself. It is stamped 
on every page with the imprint of genius and originality. 
It takes first rank as a teacher in the science of stock breeding. 
It is science made practical in handling of pigeons and raising 



of squabs. It is a key that opens the door to a splendid 
enterprise. You see it all and catch the spirit of a great 
industry led by a greater captain. Yes, it is a book that is 
teaching mankind one of the greatest lessons on material 
and moral prosperity of modern times. There is not a man 
living who may sit down and count up the value of the effects 
this book produces and the power of its influence. I believe 
in recognizing merit and giving honor where honor is due. 
Allow me to take off my hat and make my best and most 
humble bow to you across the water, not to the man, but 
to your genius and moral worth." — Francis Warren, Ireland. 

" We consider the Manual the best book yet seen treating 
on squab breeding. There are two others in our possession 
and yours is a long way ahead. I have sold my Manual and 
am now sending to you for another. You can use our name 
in connection with any praise of the Manual, as we are more 
than pleased." — White Brothers, Massachusetts. 

" Your Manual is very clear and comprehensive on every 
point touched upon. I feel that I can succeed in success- 
fully breeding squabs by following its clear-cut advice and 
suggestions. I don't think any other could be more com- 
prehensive." — /. R. Perry, Maryland, 

" I have read your Manual upon the raising of squabs and 
care of pigeons and find it of great benefit to me. Gave me 
points of which I knew nothing and should never have known 
or at least after an expensive experience and perhaps an 
entire discouragement. I most cheerfully recommend all 
persons in or about to engage in the business to procure 
your Manual at once." — Charles E. Child, Massachusetts. 

" I received your Manual on squab breeding and think it 
a very handy guide, and every pigeon lover and squab- 
breeder will be more than pleased for the instructions re- 
ceived through it. I have other pigeon books, but yours is 
the shortest and quickest way to understanding pigeons 
and breeding." — J. H. Borgman, Jr., Indiana. 

" I know there is a good profit in broiler squabs. I am 
a hotel chef, having cooked many of them, and they are 
scarce in the market most of the time. We have to order 
them a week before we want them in order to get them at 
all." — Fred Panther, Michigan. 

" Your book has been the best so far that I have ever read. 
I have 300 pairs of breeders but they are common pigeons 
and Antwerps mixed together. Last year I sold $400 worth 
of squabs from 250 pairs of birds. They are working nicely 
at the present time but are not the best of feeders. The 
Homer is way ahead of my stock. I have been in the pigeon 
business for eight years and have saved my own squabs for 
breeders." — Otis E. Fox, New Jersey. 

" Your Manual is the best that has reached me on the sub- 
ject of squab raising." — /. W. Edmundson, Pennsylvania. 

" Perfectly clear." — J. Stanley Shaw, Massachusetts. 

" Written in the plain language that any one can under- 
stand." — R. D. Lehnhcrr, Illinois. 

" Very plain to understand. I have read quite a number 
of books but there are not any of them that are explained any 
better than what yours is, and some books have cost over 
three times as much as yours cost." — Harry J. Baldt, Pennsyl- 
vania. 

" It is far ahead of other books issued on the subject at a 
larger price." — F. R. Jones, New York. 

" I consider your Manual one of the best I have ever read 
on squab raising. Any one interested in pigeons can get 
much advice from it that would require years of experience 



21 



YOU KNOW WHERE YOU'RE AT WHEN YOU'VE READ THIS BOOK 



to gain. Your Manual shows clearly what was gained by 
years of practice." — John N. G. Long, Pennsylvania. 

" The best and plainest book of the kind I have ever read." 
— P. C. Swarts, Delaware. 

" Very plain to me, there being no terms I cannot under- 
stand, and every point is clear." — C. S. King, Ohio. 

" Admirably planned and executed, treating every phase 
of the subject in a plain but thorough manner." — C. M. 
Rodgers, Connecticut. 

" I have read your Manual through very carefully and 
with much interest. For the past year I have been very 
anxious to gain some knowledge of the pigeon business. 
I have bought a number of booklets written by various breeders 
on this subject. I must say yours is the most complete and 
contains more valuable information for the beginner than any 
book I have yet had. Every point is clear. I do not see any- 
thing that can be improved." — James H. Thompson, New 
Jersey. 

" I was highly pleased. Tells the essential points and in a 
way that can be understood." — L. E. Baird, Illinois. 

" Every point was clear to me after reading your book." — 
Joseph Kirk, Pennsylvania. 

" Very nicely bound and well worth the price asked." — 
F. W. Storms, New York. 

" I spent ten dollars for poultry information which was so 
contradictory that I threw them all into the Atlantic and vowed 
never to have one near me. I then got your information, and 
everything has been so clear and concise that I bave no hesi- 
tancy in knowing what I will do." — R. H. Webb, New York. 

" I am delighted with its contents. I raised hundreds of 

Eigeons in England and can plainly see the knowledge your 
ook is founded upon is common sense facts." — W . Alexander, 
Illinois. 

" I have read your book very carefully and am pleased 
to say that I received more real information from it than 
from any other that has come to my nctice." — C. Lewis Bill, 
Connecticut. 

" Your work is ahead of anything I have read." — P. Mains, 
Ohio. 

" I think the advices you give in your Manual are the best 
I have ever read on the treatment of pigeons." — Mrs. Ida B. 
Gale, Connecticut. 

" I never read any other work on the subject, but did years 
ago raise fancy pigeons, and had I read your work at that 
time ray success would have been far greater than it was."^- 
H. M. Close, Ohio. 

" I liked your book very much and if everybody would 
use it as directed they would raise lots of squabs." — John L. 
Wilson, Pennsylvania. 

" I was greatly pleased with the plain, concise directions 
for breeding, building the pen, etc." — George E. Burrows, 
New York. 

" Every phase of the raising, feeding, and housing of pigeons 
Is treated very clearly and exhaustively." — P. Scholz, Pennsyl- 
vania. 

" All right and far ahead of anything I have read on the 
subject." — E. M. Bourne, Rhode Island. 

" Of great help to me in refitting an old poultry house for 
the care of pigeons." — J. U. Grass, New York. 

" Invaluable; information clear and concise; every day 
find some helpful point. The work is in a class all by itself 
and is far above all competition."— J. E. Mabie, New York. 

" I have not read many books on pigeons, but it is much 
better and more practical than any of them." — John H. 
Fassitt, Pennsylvania. 

" Practical and exceedingly concise." — Charles W. Long, 
Pennsylvania. 

" Most interesting; little I can see that can be improved." — 
E. D. F. Brady, District of Columbia. 

" I have read and re-read it with more than pleasure." — 
Dr. B. A. Sawtellp, Connecticut. 

" Most complete in detail of any work on pigeon breeding 
I have ever read." — W. S. Boyd, Pennsylvania. 

" Every point clear. The most practical as well as the 
most fascinating on pigeon culture that I have ever read." — 
Mrs. D. S. Stathrrn, Ohio. 

" A very great help, inasmuch as it explains nearly every- 
thing that one would want to know in such a way that it 
removes any doubt about which way is right; not necessary 
to look any further on the subject." — William H. Cross, 
Illinois. 

" One of the most interesting and instructive books I ever 
read. I have kept poultry for many years but believe there 
Is more profit in the pigeons." — W. M. Balmer, Pennsylvania. 

" Complete in every way." — Wilbur Howes, Massachusetts. 

" Have found yowr advice very helpful." — M. L. Dillon, 
Indiana. 

" Very complete and remarkably graphic." — Lewis G. 
Early, Pennsylvania. 

" The most satisfactory I have ever seen. I do not see 
how your method can be improved upon." — J. C. Davis, 
North Carolina. 

" Every point of breeding for squabs is well taken care of." 
— Clarke F. Hess, Pennsylvania. 

" From the standpoint of one who has never bred a pigeon 
but who has considerable experience in poultry, I would say 
that your book certainly is the clearest exposition of a sub- 
ject that I have ever read." — D. E. W. Vfeeland, New Jersey. 

" I do not see how you can improve your Manual." — T. P. 
Burtt, Jr., New Jersey. 

" You have treated the different subjects so thoroughly 
that it will be hard to make improvement. The chapter on 
squab house and fittings has been worth to me many times 



the price I paid for the Manual. I have not read all the 
books treating on the breeding of pigeons and the raising of 
squabs, but I have read quite a few and I say without any 
hesitation that your treatment of the subject is the best I've 
seen." — J. T. Black, Pennsylvania. 

" I prize the Manual very much and the advice to those 
about to engage in the business I find very complete in its 
details. Some ideas in building construction which are 
new to me and I consider worth more than double the price 
of the Manual I shall follow in the near future." — J. K. 
Lamont, New Jersey. 

" I found a great deal of valuable information in it." — 
G. W. Greenwood, Massachusetts. 

" I consider it very plain and simple and easily understood." 
— D. Y. Swayne, Pennsylvania. 

" Gives most useful advice to young beginners of any I 
have read." — Dr. J. H. S'ruble, New Jersey. 

" I was very much gratified to see how every point was 
presented." — John C. Hardenbergh, New York. 

" The finest work I ever read; everything to the point, no 
guessing as to meaning, no contradictions. — G. W. Clem., Ohio. 

" I was very greatly pleased with your Manual." — Hugh M. 
Stairs, Nova Scotia. 

" I sat up until about 11 o'clock last night reading it, and 
have been reading it today every time I got a chance." — R. L. 
Rolston, Kentucky. 

" After reading your Manual I procured all the books on 
pigeons I could find. I think you have evolved the most 
practical system — one that should give the careful breeder 
success with mathematical certainty. Your book is the 
only one I have been able to obtain that gives to the beginner 
the information he needs to start the business of squab 
raising." — L. M. Hall, Massachusetts. 

" I have read several books on pigeons, but must say that 
yours is the best. It is plain, common sense talk on pigeons 
I know that every one who reads it will be pleased with it 
and can profit by so doing." — George R. Park, Pennsylvania. 

" It is the best book on pigeons ever published. It has 
given me a lot of advice, and good sound advice, too, and is 
the simplest book of its kind that I have ever read." — A. G. 
Ingram, Georgia. 

" I have looked your Manual over and over and don't see 
anything you could improve on." — E. G. Bieg, Michigan. 

' It is very interesting and is all it claims to be." — M. J. 
Shettel, Pennsylvania. 

" Yours is the only method of doing. I began three years 
ago and I learned by experience that it is the way, and the 
only way, to raise squabs successfully. I first heard of you 
last May. Wishing you success and prosperity." — F. A. 
Martin, Michigan. 

" It is fine work and tells what the beginner wants to 
know." — L. F. Hull, New York. 

" I was very much | pleased with the Manual, which 
furnishes much sensible advice." — Dr. W. P. Carpenter, 
Indiana. 

" One year ago this month I purchased four pairs of your 
Extras. I now have 135 pigeons in all. One of my Homers 
which I trained flew ninety-six miles in two hours, thirty-six 
and a half minutes, outflying a racing Homer eight and three- 
quarters minutes. He is a fine bird. I have followed your 
Manual in every way. It is a good book and could hardly 
be improved. — Ward Edwards, Texas. 

" It is the best book I ever saw in my life. I have been a 
pigeon fancier about six years, and always doing well in my 
business, and your book is the best I ever saw. — Adam Roth, 
New York. 



" I received the Manual and magazines and was delighted 
to the greatest extent with each. I never realized before how 
much really interesting information and reading matter was 
connected with squabs. Instead of the cloth-bound book 
wbich I did receive, I half expected a thin paper-bound 
pamphlet half filled with uninteresting advs. but was happily 
disappointed in my expectations." — Stuart B. White, Illinois. 

" A word about your Manual. I mu"t say that it is the 
greatest book I ever read about pigeons. It is worth five 
times what you ask for it."— S. Scott, Pennsylvania. 

" Your Manual is a priceless gem." — Samuel G. Clarkson, 
New Jersey. 

" I must say that it beats any book for the money that I 
ever saw. I would not take ten dollars for mine if I knew 
I could not get another one." — H. L. Dickinson, Florida. 

" I have your 1908 Manual, and as I have had some ex- 
perience in raising pigeons, I must say that it is the most 
sensible advice ever written on the subject." — H. J. Martinson, 
Minnesota. 

" There is no better book on earth about squabs. I have 
had several kinds and they don't describe anything like you 
do." — Walter Bicken, Texas. 

" It is not only a well-made book, but the information given 
in it seems to be all that is needed. I have read it several 
times and rind it very interesting." — A. I. Derr, West Virginia. 

" To say I am pleased with it would be inadequate to express 
my feelings of your work. Your Manual is IT. having all 
others beaten ry miles." — W. Ernest Williams, Ontario. 

" I think it is the most simple and complete work I have 
ever read." — Mrs. John Gohagan, Michigan. 

" I have been interested in pigeons for years. Some twenty 
years ago I had a nice flock of trained Homers with fine records. 
Your National Standard Squab Book is to say the least the 
most complete treatise on pigeons I have ever read, is highly 
instructive and covers all essential points to minutest details." 
— George F. Bandle, Ohio. 



22 



PLYMOUTH ROCK WAY OF SELLING 



t£n£j!&n£n£ji£j 



How We Back Up Our Pigeons— One Price to All— Safe 

Delivery and a Square Deal to All — If the Pigeons 

Are Not Perfectly Satisfactory After Three 

Months' Trial We Don't Want You 

to Keep Them. 



65H&H$Jt$H£H& 



One price to all ; no deviation from this price-list ; no secret discounts or rebates. 
We guarantee safe delivery of all pigeons. We give the customer three months to try 
them. If, after seeing them for three months, he is displeased with all or any part of 
them, he may write us to that effect and we will either replace the birds he does not 
like, paying all express charges, or take back the pigeons and refund to the customer 
the money he paid us for them. 

WE SORT OUR HOMERS INTO TWO CLASSES 



THE Homers which we sell for breeders are sorted by us into 
two classes, for size, Number One (or Jumbo) Plymouth 
Rock Homers, and Extra Plymouth Rock Homers. The 
Extras are larger than the Number Ones (or Jumbos) and will 
breed a larger and heavier squab for which the breeder gets 
moi3 money, so we ask more for them. Pigeons, like all ani- 
mals, do not come precisely the same size in the breeding. 
Squabs are sold by the dozen and the more they weigh to the 
dozen, the more money they bring. For this reason our big 
Extra Homers are worth more than the Number One Homers. 

WE INTRODUCED THE BIG HOMERS 
Our Extra Plymouth Rock Homers were a revelation to the 
markets of this country. Previous to their introduction by us, 
the best squabs weighed seven pounds to the dozen. It was 
stated in the books and poultry press ten years ago that Homers 
able to breed squabs weighing eight pounds to the dozen did 
not exist. Our Extras breed squabs weighing steadily from nine 
to twelve pounds to the dozen. Their size and beauty are every- 
where recognized, and they are the standard for comparison. 
For testimony as to prolificacy, size and weight of squabs, see 
the letters from customers printed at the back of The Na- 
tional Standard Squab Book. Our stock is improving every 
year. Get these fine Homers at first hand by trading direct 
with us. We have no agents. If anybody offers you some- 
thing " just as good " as Plymouth Rock Homers, or " better 
mated," he is simply trying to trade on our reputation. Avoid 
disappointment and send your order direct to us. 

WE SEND OUR CULLS TO MARKET 
One of the reasons for the success of our customers with our 

Homers is, that we sort our birds with extreme care and ship 

only perfect specimens fit for breeding. 

We send in every week to Boston market, to be killed, all 

the culls, such as birds with any imperfections, or which are 

poor breeders. 

BANDING, MATING 
Many beginners are puzzled as to the sex of pigeons, even 
after observation. We mark our birds with a strong V-joint 
band, placing the band on the right leg of the male bird and the 
left leg of the female. 



The skillful work of mating is done in our plant by trust- 
worthy men of experience who have been in our employ almost 
as long as our business has been founded and to aid them they 
have the best equipment, including one long house (illustrated 
in Manual, fitted expensively with hundreds of coops), heated 
by hot water and given up entirely to mating. Two men give 
their time to this mating each day. Nobody is more willing, 
or can do more, to supply more satisfactory or better mated 
Homers than we can. Customers are invited to visit our farm, 
and if they wish, see their orders filled to their perfect satis- 
faction. We receive visitors on any days except Sundays and 
holidays ; we do not work then and neither sell nor show stock 
on those days. 

Our equipment of large pens for catching mated pairs while 
driving, small pens for keeping flocks at work the desired time, 
and other devices, are complete. We were the first to give the 
" trap-nest " a trial, but abandoned it, as it cannot be de- 
pended upon, catching two birds of the same sex as often as a 
pair. The method of catching mated pairs while they are 
driving (which some advocate) is good in some months of the 
year, and is employed then, but in other months is useless. 
If any special method of mating has been recommended to you 
and you prefer it, specif; that wh?n you order of us and we will 
fill your order accordingly. Orders for color of plumage, 
mating, banding, etc., filled according to specifications. 

If you live remote from us, and have visited a plant near you 
or have read about one, and wish your order made up in any 
manner specially recommended to you, we can fill your order to 
suit you perfectly. 

SAFE DELIVERY GUARANTEED 

Our Homers are pure breed and are adults, of prime breeding 
age, ready for quick laying. We guarantee safe delivery. We 
send out nothing but strictly first-class stock. We do not sell 
any young birds (whose sex it is impossible to determine). 

We send a certificate of pure breed with Canadian and other 
foreign shipments so ttut no duty is exacted. Our Homers 
are duty free. 

You should not have other than even pairs to begin. Be- 
ware of pigeon jobbers retailing so-called Homers as low as 
75 cents to $1.25 a pair, calling them " Homers, guaranteed 
properly mated." Such birds are picked up everywhere, 



23 



PRICES THE LOWEST AT WHICH RELIABLE BIRDS CAN BE SOLD 



some lots being all cocks and no hens. Such advertisers are 
irresponsible, have no rating, and their guarantee means noth- 
ing. They have no facilities for furnishing " properly mated 
pairs," and no intention of really guaranteeing the sex of the birds 
they ship. 

Our interest in our customer does not end with the sale of breed- 
ing stock. We expect to assist him to make money with the 
birds and to teach him the business. That our birds and our 
helpful methods are successful our "Letters from Customers" 
and "Stories of Success" demonstrate. We challenge any 
pigeon or squab breeder, or any breeder of live stock anywhere, 
to show a record for fair dealing in volume or character equal 
to this. 

Imitators copy our books and our methods unblushingly. 
Look out for them — get only the genuine Plymouth Rock Homers. 
We control our wood pulp nestbowls and these cannot be sold 
except by us without infringement. 

No. 1 PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS 

For sale as follows, these prices being the same to all, no matter 
where customer lives: 

Three pairs $6.00 

Six pairs 12.00 

Twelve pairs 24.00 



Twenty-four pairs $48.00 

Forty-eight pairs 96.00 

Ninety-six pairs 192.00 

And so on. No order filled for less than three pairs. 

EXTRA PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS 

For sale as follows, these prices being the same to all, no matter 
where customer lives: 

Three pairs $8.25 

Six pairs 16.50 

Twelve pairs 33.00 

Twenty-four pairs 66.00 

Forty-eight pairs 132.C0 

Ninety-six pairs 264.00 

And so on. No order filled for less than three pairs. 

Above prices are for Mated Pairs. Birds Banded, cocks on 
right leg and hens on left leg. 

PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMER HENS 

We can supply Plymouth Rock Female Homers in any quantity, 
both No. 1 hens and Extra hens. 

Price of Plymouth Rock No. 1 Homer Hen-, $1.00 each. 
Price of Plymouth Rock Extra Homer Hens, 1.50 each. 
Express charges paid by customer. (Cocks at same prices.) 



I 

Express and Freight Charges Prepaid. Order one of these 
and you pay nothing for transportation. 

WE sort our Homers into two classes. No. 1 and Extra. The largest birds we call Extras. They will breed a larger and heavier 
squab for which the breeder gets more money, so we ask more for them. Pigeons, like all animals, do not come precisely the 
same size in the breeding. 
The following special offers may be ordered by number. Send us an express or post office money order or bank draft and in your 
letter say, " Send Special Offer No. 1," No. 2, or whichever you prefer, and we will fill your order accordingly. 

The quotations given in these special offers are for Mated Pairs, birds banded, cocks on right legs and hens on left legs. 
If you wish your order filled in any manner which has been recommended to you, specify when you order. 

We Pay Express and Freight Charges on These Special Offers. You will be Charged Nothing for Transportation. Both Pigeons 
and Supplies will be Delivered Free to Your Nearest Railroad Station. (These special offers can be taken advantage of only by customers 
in the United States and Canada.) Special offers for sea voyages will be placed free on board the nearest steamer at these prices plus an 
extra charge for cooping and feed for ocean voyages. Transportation for ocean voyages at the risk and expense of consignee. Our guar- 
antee stops at the steamship. 



SPECIAL OFFER NO. 1, Thirty-six Dollars 

Send us Thirty-six Dollars and we will ship you Twelve Pairs 
of our Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, Express Charges Prepaid, 
to your nearest railroad station, any point in the United States 
or Canada. We will send one pair free, or 13 pairs Extra altogether. 
We will send also, in addition to the pigeons, one drinking fountain, 
one bath pan and two dozen nestbowls (or other supplies which 
you may prefer, of equal value, $3.15) and Prepay the transporta- 
tion charges on all. 

SPECIAL OFFER NO. 2, Nineteen Dollars 

Send us Nineteen Dollars and we will ship you Six Pairs of our 
Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, Express Charges Prepaid, to 
your nearest railroad station, any point in the United States 
or Canada. We will send also, in addition to the pigeons, one 
drinking fountain and one dozen nestbowls (or other supplies 
which you may prefer, of equal value, $1.75) and Prepay the trans- 
portation charges on all. 

SPECIAL OFFER NO. 3, Ten Dollars 

Send us Ten Dollars and we will ship you Three Pairs of our 
Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, Express Charges Prepaid, to 
your nearest railroad station, any point in the United States or 
Canada. We will send also, in addition to the pigeons, one drink- 
ing fountain and half a dozen nestbowls (or other supplies which 
you may prefer, of equal value, $1.25) and Prepay the transporta- 
tion charges on all. 

SPECIAL OFFER NO. 4, Eight Dollars 

Send us Eight Dollars and we will ship you Three Pairs of our 
No. 1 Plymouth Rock Homers, Express Charges Prepaid, to your 



nearest railroad station, any point in the United States or Canada. 
We will send also, in addition to the pigeons, one drinking fountain 
and half a dozen nestbowls (or other supplies which you may 
prefer, of eq.ual value, $1.25) and Prepay the transportation charges 
on all. 

SPECIAL OFFER NO. 5, Seventy Dollars 

Send us Seventy Dollars and we will ship you the following goods, 
both express and freight charges Prepaid to your nearest railroad 
station, any point in the United States or Canada: 

24 Pairs Extra Plymouth Rock Homers (25 pairs will be sent, 
one pair free). 

Four dozen nestbowls. 

Two bath pans. 

One drinking fountain. 

(Or other supplies or more pigeons, which you may prefer, 
of equal value, $5.55.) 

SPECIAL OFFER NO. 6, One Hundred Forty 
Dollars 

Send us One Hundred and Forty Dollars ($140) and we will 
ship you the following goods, both express and freight charges 
Prepaid, to your nearest railroad station, any point in the United 
States or Canada: 

50 Pairs Extra Plymouth Rock Homers (52 pairs will be sent, 
two pairs free). 

Nine dozen nestbowls. 

Four bath pans. 

Three drinking fountains. 

(Or other supplies or more pigeons, which you may prefer, of 
equal value, $12.85.) 



24 



WE PAY TRANSPORTATION CHARGES ON THESE SPECIAL OFFERS 



SPECIAL OFFER NO. 7, Two Hundred Seventy- 
five Dollars 

Send us Two Hundred Seventy-five Dollars ($275) and we will 
ship you the following goods, both express and freight charges 
Prepaid to your nearest railroad station, any point in the United 
States or Canada: 

100 Pairs Extra Plymouth Rock Homers (104 pairs will be sent, 
four pairs free). 

Eighteen dozen nestbowls. 

Eight bath pans. 

Six drinking fountains. 

(Or other supplies or more pigeons, which you may prefer, of 
equal value, $25.70.) 

SPECIAL OFFER NO. 8, Eight Hundred Dollars 

Send us Eight Hundred Dollars ($800) and we will ship you the 
following goods, both express and freight charges Prepaid, to your 
nearest railroad station, any point in the United States or Canada: 

300 Pairs Extra Plymouth Rock Homers (312 pairs will be sent, 
twelve pairs free). 

Fifty-four dozen nestbowls. 

Twenty-four bath pans. 

Eighteen drinking fountains. 

(Or other supplies or more pigeons, which you may prefer, of 
equal value, $77.10.) 

PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMER HENS 

We can supply Plymouth Rock Female Homers in any quantity, 
both No. 1 hens and Extra hens. 

Price of Plymouth Rock No. 1 Homer Hens, $1.00 each. 



Price of Plymouth Rock Extra Homer Hens, $1.50 each. 
Express charges paid by customer. 

PRICES FOR SUPPLIES 

If you wish supplies in addition to what are named above, 
order on the following basis: 

Nestbowls 9 cents each, $1.08 a dozen, $12.96 a gross. 
Net for catching pigeons, 70 cents. By mail, 82 cents. 
Liquid disinfectant and lice-killer, $1.25 a gallon. 
Insect sprayer, 50 cents. By mail, 60 cents. 
One gallon disinfectant and sprayer combined, $1.50. 
Drinking fountains, 75 cents. 
Bath pans, 40 cents. 

Cleaning trowel, 50 cents. By mail, 60 cents. 
Cleaning scraper, 25 cents. By mail, 33 cents. 
Floor chisel for cleaning, 50 cents. By mail, 70 cents. 
Three-cornered scraper forcleaning, 40 cents. By mail, 50 cents. 
Health grit $2 per 200 pounds. No order filled for less than 200 

pounds. 
Oyster shell, pigeon size, 75 cents per hundred pounds; fifty 

pounds, 40 cents. No order filled for less than 50 pounds. 
Mixed pigeon grain, $2.50 per hundred pounds. 
Pigeon peanuts $2.60 per hundred pounds. 
Canada peas $4.00 per hundred pounds. 
Hempseed, 6 cents a pound; 100 pounds, $6. 

No order for grain less than 50 pounds in amount will be filled 
except in the case of hempseed, of which 25 pounds is the smallest 
order taken. If you send us a check, be sure and add ten cents to 
the amount to pay for the cost of collecting the check which our 
bank charges. 



^Plymouth Rock Carneaux, one pair or more, may be added to any of the above special 
offers (at $2.75 or $3.75 per pair, according to grade ordered), with the understanding that we 
will prepay the express charges on them also. For description and price of Carneaux see page 
26 of this book. 



We Have Fast Express Transportation and Low Rates 



WE ship promptly, with the customer fully advised as to 
receipt of money, time of shipment, etc. 
The inter-state express companies give us low rates and 
quick service. They charge no more for carrying a shipment of 
Homer pigeons than for ordinary merchandise. Our Homer pigeons 
go everywhere by express at the single or merchandise rate. 
This is not true of most animal shipments. The usual animal 
shipment is figured at the double rate, or the one-and-one-half 
rate. 

The express messengers on all the routes leading out of Boston 
are accustomed to the care of our birds in transit. We send 
grain with the birds as the distance requires, and the shipments 
are carefully fed and watered until destination is reached. 

The express companies give us a fast time service via the New 
York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, Boston and Maine, 
New York Central and connecting lines. The special American 
Express trains make better time than ordinary passenger trains' 
running forty miles an hour through from Boston to Buffalo, 
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, 
St. Paul, Minneapolis, etc. They leave Boston at 3, 5.57, 6.30, 7 
and 1 1 p.m. To show you how quickly our pigeons will get to you 
by this service, we give following the times of arrival of train which 
leaves Boston at 3 p.m. : 

Albany, N. Y., 9.40 p.m., SAME DAY. 

Buffalo, N. Y., 7.40 a.m., NEXT DAY. 

Chicago, 111., 8.40 p.m., NEXT DAY. 

Cincinnati, O., 6.50 a.m., SECOND DAY. 

Dallas, Tex., 5.35 p.m., THIRD DAY. 

Denver, Col., 7.15 a.m., THIRD DAY. 

Detroit, Mich., 12.50 p.m., NEXT DAY. 

Fort Scott, Kansas, 12.15 a.m., THIRD DAY. 

Greenville, Miss., 12.15 p.m., THIRD DAY. 

Jackson, Tenn., 6.05 p.m., SECOND DAY. 

Kansas City, Mo., 2 p.m., SECOND DAY. 

Louisville, Ky., 7.30 a.m., SECOND DAY. 

New Orleans, La., 8.30 a.m., THIRD DAY. 

St. Paul, Minn., 11.30 a.m., SECOND DAY. 

Waco, Texas, 11.13 a.m., THIRD DAY. 

If you live near one of the above cities, or in the country be- 
tween two of them, you can figure for yourself within a few hours 
of the short time necessary for the pigeons to reach you. 

Canada shipments by the American or Wells-Fargo companies. 
We reach Mexico, Cuba and Porto Rico safely, making special 
provision for the feeding of the birds. 



The express charges on one of our baskets containing twenty- 
four to twenty-six pigeons from us to you are small because the 
baskets are light, and pigeons do not make a bulky shipment. 
See the following figures for estimates on one basket. If you 




PIGEONS SHIPPED BY EXPRESS 
This is the wagon of one of the interstate express companies, and is seen 
standing at the end of one of our houses loaded with shipments of breeding 
stock on their way to the railroad station. 

buy two dozen or three dozen or four dozen or more pairs, the 
charges will not be two or three or four times what these are, 
because for a heavy shipment the rate is proportionately smaller: 

Alabama $1.60, Arizona $4, Arkansas $1.75, California $4.50, 
Colorado $3.50, Connecticut 50 cents, Delaware 80 cents, District 
of Columbia 90 cents, Florida $1.75 to $2.25, Georgia $1.50, 
Idaho $4, Illinois $1.25, Indiana $1.10, Indian Territory $1.75, 
Iowa $1.50, Kansas $1.75, Kentucky $1.10, Louisiana $1.75, 
Maine 50 cents, Maryland 90 cents, Massachusetts 30 cents 
to 60 cents, Michigan $1.00, Minnesota $1.60, Mississippi $1.75, 
Missouri $1.50, Nebraska $1.75, New Hampshire 50 cents, Mew 
Jersey 80 to 90 cents, New Mexico $3 to $4, New York 50 to 90 
cents, North Carolina $1.40, Ohio $1, Oregon $4, Pennsylvania, 
70 cents to $1, Rhode Island 40 cents, South Carolina $1.50, 
South Dakota $1.75, Tennessee $1.50, Texas $2.10 to $2.50, 
Vermont 70 cents, Virginia $1, Washington $4 to $4.50, West 
Virginia $1, Wisconsin $1.50. 

Avoid transportation charges by ordering^ one of our special 
offers, both freight and express charges prepaid by us. 



25 



NOTICE SIZE OF GENUINE PLYMOUTH ROCK CARNEAUX 

Plymouth Rock Carneaux 

Red Plumage Splashed with White 

Price $2.75 and $3.75 per Mated Pair 

WE introduced the Carneaux to America from Belgium begin- 
ning in 1907, in large importations, and these beautiful 
pigeons, larger than Homers, have made a hit unprece- 
dented in squab raising. Their popularity is constantly increasing. 
The Carneau (pronounced car-no; plural Carneaux, pronounced the 
same) breed is comparatively new to this country. Our Extra 
Carneaux breed squabs weighing over a pound apiece. Plumage 
almost invariably copper red (rare specimens yellow) splashed a 
little with white; long body; broad breast; shape of head and body, 
and poise of body, different from other varieties; quiet disposition, 
not so timid as other breeds; meat of squabs uncommonly white; 
have no homing qualities; they may be allowed to fly, if desired, 
after a fortnight's confinement; will stay around the place where 
they are fed, will not try to fly back to place where bred; feed their 
young steadily and well; breed nine to ten pairs of squabs per year; 
are housed, fed and handled same as Homers; strong, rugged 
build. For complete description of this wonderful breed, see our 
Manual, pages 227 to 237, including many letters from customers 
in which they tell in their own words their experiences with Ply- 
mouth Rock Carneaux as to rate of breeding, size of squabs produced. 

The Carneaux as we found them in Belgium were red plumage 
splashed with white. Such are the true Carneaux. We sell 
Carneaux only in red plumage splashed with white. The white 
splashes vary in size and on some birds are quite large, on others 
small. Now and then an all-red or all-yellow bird will be pro- 
duced, also yellow splashed with white, but such colors are rare. 

No Carneaux come exactly the same size in the breeding. We 
have two grades of our Carneaux, No. 1 and Extra. Our Extra 
Carneaux are larger and breed a larger squab and that is why we 
sell them at a higher price. The photograph on this page shows 
clearly the remarkable size of our Extra Carneaux. We formerly 
sold the Extra Carneaux at eight dollars and six dollars a pair 
but on account of the increased demand, increased supply, and 
larger volume of traffic, we are now able to offer these fine birds 
for only $3.75 per mated pair. 

EXTRA $3.75 

EXTRA PLYMOUTH ROCK CARNEAUX $3-75 per mated 
pair, banded, cocks on right leg, hens on left leg. Orders filled 
for one pair or more. One pair $3.75, two pairs $7.50, three pairs 
$11.25, f°ur pairs $15.00, five pairs $18.75, six pairs $22.50, and so 
on. Express charges prepaid to any railroad station in the United 
States and Canada on orders for six pairs or more. 

No. ONE $2.75 

NO. 1 PLYMOUTH ROCK CARNEAUX, $2.75 per mated 
pair (same price as our Extra Homers), banded cocks on right 
leg, hens on left leg. Orders filled for one pair or more. One 
pair $2.75, two pairs $5.50, three pairs $8.25, four pairs $11.00, 
five pairs $13.75, six pairs $16.50, and so on. Express charges pre- 
paid to any railroad station in the United States and Canada on 
orders for six pairs or more. (For the special offers on pages 24 
and 25 of this booklet, you may have No. 1 Plymouth Rock Car- 
neaux in place of the Extra Homers if you prefer them.) 

HOMERS OR CARNEAUX, WHICH? 

We are often asked which we recommend, Plymouth Rock 
Homers or Plymouth Rock Carneaux. We recommend both but 
on account of the higher selling price of Carneaux, we advise the 
purchase of more Homers than Carneaux. By the use of the 
Homers the production of the Carneaux may be doubled, as 
explained in our Manual. Separate breeds of pigeons should be 
kept in separate pens; we do not recommend that both Homers 
and Carneaux be kept in the same pen. We do not sell young 
Carneaux. We sell only the mature adult mated pairs. 

Carneaux may be added at above prices to any of the special 
offers which we make on our Homers with the understanding that 
we will prepay the express charges on all. 




Copyright, 1916, by Plymouth Rock Squab Co. 

EXTRA PLYMOUTH ROCK CARNEAUX 



26 



SEND YOUR MONEY BY EXPRESS OR POST OFFICE MONEY ORDER 

WE SELL ALL KINDS OF SUPPLIES 



Nestbowls, Drinking Fountains, Cleaning Tools, Pigeon 
Peanuts, Grit, Shell, Grain, Bands 






M 




FIGURE 1 




FIGURE 2 



IMPORTED WOOD PULP NESTBOWL 

ADE in one size only (nine inches diameter of bowl). We 
sell the bowls only (not the bases). Some customers screw 
the nestbowl directly to the bottom of the nestbox, which 

is removable, as per 
illustration. Figure 
3. Other customers 
who have nest- 
boxes with solid 
bottoms use a base 
or block of wood 
seven inches square 
and about three- 
quarters of an inch 
thick, and screw 
the nestbowl to this 
base block, to give 
stability. The con- 
struction of nest- 
boxes which we il- 
lustrate herewith 
is good because 
cleaning can be 
better done. The 
bottoms of the nest- 
boxes are removable 
and rest on cleats, 
as the picture shows. 
The cleats are seven- 
eighths or one inch 
square, and are 
nailed to the up- 
rights. 

Figure 1 shows 
the bowl screwed 
to a base, the per- 
spective view. Fig- 
ure 2 shows one- 
half cut away, mak- 
ing plain how the 
screw is driven down 
through the center 
of the bowl. There 
is a hole already 
made in the bottom 
FIGURE 3 of every bowl to 

make this work easy. In addition to the screw, it is well to drive 
in two small brads to prevent the bowl from turning when it is 
being cleaned. We also send a metal washer for each bowl to be 
placed under the head of the screw. 

These wood pulp nestbowls have all the advantages of the 
wood bowls which we formerly sold and also are indestructible, 
cannot warp or split, as some of the old-style wood bowls would 
do when made of improperly seasoned lumber. 

The success of these wood pulp bowls was quickly demon- 
strated, and now we sell nothing else. 

PRICE OF WOOD PULP NESTBOWL, 9 CENTS EACH 

complete with screw and washer. No charge for packing. No 
order filled for less than one dozen. 

We make this wood pulp nestbowl in one size only as above 
specified (two sizes are not necessary because the feet of the squabs 
do not sprawl as in the case of earthenware nappies). You will 
need one pair of nestbowls for every pair of pigeons (in other 




words, one nestbowl for every pigeon). If you order 24 pairs 
of breeders you will need 48 nestbowls. If you order 96 pairs 
of breeders you will need 192 nestbowls. 

Price of one dozen $1.08 

Price of two dozen 2.16 

Price of six dozen 6.48 

Price of twelve dozen (one gross) 12.96 

Price of ten gross 129.60 

NO ORDER FILLED FOR LESS THAN ONE DOZEN 
Beginning January, 1914, these Plymouth Rock wood pulp 
nestbowls will be IMPORTED by us, very special first-class 
qv-.lity. 

IMPORTANT SHIPPING NOTICE 

One dozen of these wood pulp nestbowls, in a package ready 
for shipment, weighs eight pounds. Two dozen weigh sixteen 
pounds. One gross, ready for shipment, weighs 110 pounds. 

Freight (not express) charges are based on a minimum of 100 
pounds. That is, if the package weighs only eight pounds you 
will be charged for transportation by freight as if it weighed 100 
pounds. An order for one or two dozen nestbowls should be sent 
with the birds. We can tie a package to the coop without increas- 
ing the express charge more than ten or fifteen cents. Of course 
if you order various supplies such as bowls, bath pans, drinkers, 
grit, shells, grain, etc., the whole amounting to from 50 to 100 
pounds, the cheapest transportation in such a case would be freight. 

FREIGHT ON NESTBOWLS PAID BY US WHEN BIRDS 
ARE ORDERED 

We know our birds will breed more successfully in these wood 
pulp nestbowls than in earthenware, and, to make it an object 
for you to buy these nestbowls, you may deduct the freight charges 
on nestbowls from your order for birds. First order your nest- 
bowls and other goods sent by freight, then when you order your 
breeders send us your freight receipt and count the amount as 
cash. Or you may order your birds at the same time you do the 
nestbowls (and other supplies) and when you get your freight receipt 
send it to us. If you intend to order only one dozen to four dozen 
bowls, do not order them ahead of your birds, but order all together 
and we will ship both birds and bowls together. 

SQUAB-FE-NOL 

Liquid germ destroyer for pigeon houses. In answer to requests 
from our customers, we have had this made for us to sell for $1.25 
a gallon in competition with widely advertised coal-tar disiafect- 
ants of the same kind for the same uses, for which $2 and $3 a 
gallon are charged. SQUAB-FE-NOL should be used in the 
sprayer which we sell. A little goes a long way. Mix it with 
water in the proportion of one teaspoonful to every pint of water. 
Used in this manner, the gallon can which we sell will last for 
months. SQUAB-FE-NOL is as useful about a poultry house, 
stable or kitchen, as about the squabhouse. It is a disinfectant, 
prevents decomposition, destroys organisms and germ life, dis- 
infects and purifies the air. The weight of the four-quart (one 
gallon) can which we sell for $1.25 is ten pounds. We sell SQUAB- 
FE-NOL in only one size of can. No order filled for less than one 
gallon. The can has a strong, screw-cap cover, and goes safely 
by express, along with birds, or by freight with other goods. Price, 
per gallon, $1.25. 

INSECT SPRAYER 

Pigeons have a long feather louse which is not harmful. The 
mite which causes the only trouble is small, about the size of a 
pin-head, called the red mite, because after it has sucked the 
blood of the pigeon it is colored red. We have gone a whole 
season without seeing any of these mites in our breeding 



27 



FOR AMOUNTS UNDER ONE DOLLAR SEND U. S. TWO-CENT STAMPS 




houses. If lice of this kind, or any kind, are discovered, the 
insect sprayer which we illustrate here will be found useful. 
The barrel is filled with water in which SQUAB-FE-NOL has 
been poured and a fine spray driven against the nestboxes and 
nestbowls, or even against the birds. 

These INSECT SPRAYERS are well made of heavy tin. We 
sell them for fifty cents each. They cannot be mailed, but 
should be sent by express, or with other goods by freight. 
Birds which are lousy may be dusted under the feathers, 

next the skin, 
with any good 
lice powder or 
with the TO- 
BACCO DUST 
which we sell. 
The best time 
for such treatment is at night, when the birds may be readily 
caught and handled. It is also a good idea to throw a pinch 
of TOBACCO DUST in the nest, on and around the squabs, 
about once a week during the summer. 

Lice are the terror of chicken raisers, but we never knew a 
squab raiser, if intelligent, to be troubled very much or very 
long with lice. Once free of lice, the birds almost invariably 
keep themselves clean. It is only the loft where cleaning is 
badly neglected which is troubled with lice. 

There is a light-colored grub which sometimes forms in the 
manure on the bottom of the nestbox, but no trouble comes 
from it and it does not get on the bird. 

One gallon can of SQUAB-FE-NOL and the sprayer shipped 
together in one order, $1.50. 

TOBACCO DUST 

Tobacco stems are sometimes used for nesting material to 
keep away lice. When straw or pine needles are used for nest- 
ing material, the same precaution may be taken by dusting 
the nests once a week with TOBACCO DUST. It is as good for 
poultry as for pigeons. This TOBACCO DUST is often found 
In fancy lice powders retailing for half a dollar a pound or 
more. Price, eleven cents a pound. Twenty-five pounds, two 
dollars. 

The use of tobacco dust will not injure the manure for 
tanner's use. 

CATCHING NETS 
To catch pigeons, a NET such as we illustrate here should be 
used. If the breeder's house and fly have been built as we 
advise in the Manual, the wire top 
of the flying pen and the wire ceiling 
of the squabhouse are about eight 
feet from the ground or flooring, 
which makes the use of a NET 
with short handle like this con- 
venient. If the fly and house are 
higher, the net may be put on the 
end of a longer handle by the pur- 
chaser. We sell them only with 
the short handle, as pictured. This 
NET is made for us of the best 
material, with knots which will 
not slip in case of a break, as is the case with cheap nets. 
Price, if sent by freight or express, with other goods, or sepa- 
rate, seventy cents. If to be sent by mail add twelve cents 
extra for postage and packing, making the whole price eighty, 
two cents. 

WIRE NETTING 
There is fluctuation in the prices of WIRE NETTING which 
are fixed by the wire trust. A roll of 150 running feet 48 
inches wide will contain 600 square feet. If your flying pen is 
12 feet high, you should order rolls four or six feet wide. If 
your flying pen is 10 feet high, you should order rolls five feet 
wide. Unless you expect to be bothered by thieving spar- 
rows, the two-inch mesh will answer, and we recommend it for 
general use. No. 20 wire is smaller than No. 19. That is the 
way the sizes run. Netting made of the larger size wire will 
be stronger and will outwear the smaller size. Decide for 
yourself which you will have. We advise you to buy your wire 
netting of your nearest hardware or general supply store. 





SEVENTY-FIVE-CENT DRINKING FOUNTAIN 
This picture shows our ordinary two-gailon drinking foun 

tain for pigeons. It is made of galvanized iron. 
The hole at the bottom through 

which the water passes is larger 

than usual, so that time can be 

saved in filling the drinker. This 

fountain is thirteen inches high 

and seven inches in diameter. 

Capacity, two gallons. Price, 

crated ready for shipment, sev- 
enty-five cents. Weight, crated, 

six pounds. When birds are 

ordered at same time, this can 

be sent along with the birds in a 

special crate at little or no extra 

expense, as the express charge 

will be based on the total weight 

of both birds and fountain; a charge will not be made for each 

separately. 

The water in this fountain is always clean, cannot be fouled 

by the birds. Cannot be burst by freezing. We sell this iD 

one size only. 

EIGHTY-CENT TAKE-APART FOUNTAIN 
This drinking fountain is of two gallons* capacity, and Is 
made of heavy galvanized iron. It is in two parts, top and 
saucer, which may be 
separated when clean- 
ing. (The other foun- 
tains cannot be taken 
apart for cleaning.) The 
cone top projects over 
the saucer so that drop- 
pings from the pigeons 
cannot fall into the wa- 
ter. To fill fountain, 
hold cone top in left 
hand, bottom up, and 
pour in water to level 
of small hole. Place 
on saucer bottom up 
with right hand, then 
reverse the whole fountain and set on floor. The water drops 
down as used, same as in our other fountain. Fountain cannot 
be burst by freezing. Price of TAKE-APART FOUNTAIN, 
one size only, two gallons' capacity, eighty cents. 




C| For description and 
prices of the popular 
color bands see page 34 
of this catalogue. 



BATH PAN 

The sixteen-inch BATH PAN which we recommend and seD 
is better than a larger size, no matter what the capacity of your 
plant It is more easily emptied of water, there is less strain 
en the arms, and it is kept clean more easily. 

There should be one BATH PAN for every twelve pairs of 
birds. If you have about 48 pairs of birds in each unit, you 
should have four BATH PANS in that unit, outside in the flying 
pen. You can get along very well with one drinking fountain 
to a unit with that number of birds, or a less number of birds, 
but if you do not have BATH PANS enough the bathing water 
will get dirtier than it should and the birds should not be give» 
an opportunity to drink this dirty water. 



28 



STAMPS FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED 




In the winter, when the birds are shut up in the squabhouse 
frequently for days at a time, it is not necessary to bathe them 
every day. Bathe them say once a week, taking the BATH 
PANS into the squabhouse and letting the pans stand before 
them for about an hour. If you let the water stand in the 
BATH PANS in the squabhouse in the winter time all day, they 
will splash too much out onto the floor, and the house will get 
damp. 

If your plant is a small one, the best way for you to manage 

is this: At evening 
(sunset, sometimes 
before) your birds 
will all leave the 
flying pen for their 
nests and perches 
inside. Then fill 
the BATH PANS 
with water. When 
the following day 
lawns, and before you are up, the pigeons will fly out and 
take a bath. When you get up, go to your pigeons and empty 
the BATH PAxJS turning them bottomside up and leaving 
them that way all day. 

The price of these sixteen-inch BATH PANS is forty cents, 
crated ready for shipment. 

CLEANING TOOLS 

A few suitable tools are a great aid in keeping a squabhouse 
clean. The handiest tools are (1) a square-pointed trowel to 
clean out the nestbowls and nestboxes; (2) a straight-bladed 
hand scraper to use on nestbowls and nestboxes when the 
manure is hard-caked; (3) a floor-chisel with a long handle to 
start the manure on the floor; (4) a short-handled scraper, 
commonly known as a tree scraper, with triangular-shaped 
blade set at right angles to the handle. 

With these four tools, the work of cleaning every part of a 
squabhouse can be performed easily and rapidly. 

We sell these goods as follows: 

TROWEL 
Blade eight inches long, three inches wide, best heavy steel, 




price fifty cents. If sent by mail, add ten cents for postage. 

STRAIGHT-BLADE HAND SCRAPEP 
Steel blade is three and one-half inches wide at end, tapering 
to two and one-half inches, and is five inches long. Total 




length of blade and wood handle, nine inches. Price, twenty- 
five cents. If sent by mail, add eight cents for postage. 

FLOOR CHISEL 

Made of best steel, blade six inches long and four inches wide. 
Price without wood handle fifty cents. If sent by mail, add 
twenty cents for postage. (We do not furnish the wood 




<*andle for this floor scraper. When you get it, you should 
Insert in it a handle about four feet long — an old broom or hoe 
handle.) 



THREE-CORNERED SCRAPER 
Made of best steel. The blade is four inches long on each 
of the three sides. There is a bolt and washer for fastening 
the blade to the wood handle. The wood handle is eighteen 
inches long. Price complete with handle, forty cents. If sent 
by mail, add ten cents for postage. 

When the above, or any of our lighter goods, are ordered 
at the same time birds are ordered, they can be wrapped into 
a strong package which may be tied to one of the baskets of 




birds. This will add little to the weight of the basket and the 
additional express charges will amount to little or nothing. 
Generally speaking, the charge made by the express com- 
panies for carrying a package weighing, for example, forty 
pounds, is not more than ten or fifteen cents in excess of the 
charge made for a thirty-pound package. 

The four tools listed above, consisting of TROWEL, HAND- 
SCRAPER, FLOOR-CHISEL and THREE-CORNERED 
SCRAPER, sent together for $1.40. If to be sent by mail send 
twenty cents additional for postage. 

SQUAB-KILLING PINCERS 

On page 1 15 of our Manual, we picture and tell how to make 
out of wood a squab-killing machine, to kill squabs rapidly. 
Such a machine is nailed to a box or bench for use. Many of 
our customers prefer to kill their 
squabs with these pincers. The 
squab is held in the left hand and i 
its neck pinched with the nippers 
held in the right hand. The neck 
is instantly broken. Squabs may be killed very rapidly with 
this useful tool, much faster than the necks may be tweaked 
or wrung. Price, thirty cents. Will be sent by mail, postage 
paid, for thirty-four cents. 

SQUAB-KILLING KNIFE 
This knife should be used in killing squabs for dealers which 
demand them bled. To use it, hang the squab alive down- 
ward by noosed cord slipped over feet, open mouth of squab 




with left hand, insert knife with right, and cut deep inside. 
The whole knife is of razor steel. The long part (see picture) 
Is the handle. The short, curved part is the blade and takes 
a razor edge. The knife is five and one-half inches long. 
Price, postage paid, forty-five cents. 



BLAKSLEE PIGEON HOLDER 
For Homers, Carneaux, etc. The bird is 
helpless and is in the best position for applying 
bands, both hands of operator free. This 
holder is also useful for weighing live pigeons 
or live squabs. This valuable device will save 
trouble and bother in the handling of pigeons. 
Price fifty cents. (If to be sent by mail, add 
sixteen cents extra for mailing expense, sending 
sixty-six cents money order altogether.) 



HEALTH GRIT 

It has been our experience in dealing not only with many 
thousands of beginners in the squab business, but also with a 
great many breeders of considerable experience, that com- 
paratively few have a proper appreciation of the value of grit. 
Pigeons have no teeth and must have grit to take the place of 
teeth, otherwise they cannot prepare their food properly, and 
will not do well. We have Ld customers take the most ex- 
traordinary care with regard to the grain, but supply abso 
lutely no grit, and then they complained because their birds 




29 



SEND YOUR MONEY BY EXPRESS OR POST OFFICE MONEY ORDER 




BEAUTIFUL WHITE HOMERS, $2.75 A PAIR 

We sell our White Homers in one grade only for $2.75 a pair, in any 
quantity. We will prepay express charges on all orders of these birds for 
fifteen pairs and upwards. These birds are all white plumage. They are 
the largest of their kind but not so large as our Extra colored Homers, and 
do not breed so large a squab. They are bought largely on account of their 
handsome plumage. A pen of them makes a pretty sight. We will fill orders 
for one pair or more. No better White Homers are sold at any price. 



were not breeding properly, and that the squabs were not plump. 

Grit is not oyster shell, nor is oyster shell grit. You must 
have both. The grit is needed, as stated, to grind the grain, while 
the oyster shell is needed to supply the constituents out of which 
the female pigeon forms the egg. 

The yard of the flying pen must be gravelled, not grassed, 
and out of this gravel the birds get considerable grit. If you 
watch them, you will see them pecking at this gravel in the flying 
pen constantly. Beach sand, or sand of any kind, may be used 
in the flying pen instead of gravel. The flying pen yard should be 
renewed with fresh sand or gravel every six weeks, for although 
it may look the same to you, you must remember that it does 
not look the same to the birds, for they have been going over it 
constantly picking out the particles which they liked. In the 
winter time when the flying pen may be covered with snow, it is 
well to keep a protected box filled with gravel or sand in the squab- 
house. By a protected box, we mean a box which the birds cannot 
foul, but which allows the grit to fall down as fast as eaten. 



HEALTH GRIT, GRAIN, SHELLS, ETC. 

In a protected box in the squabhouse there should also be fed 
the HEALTH GRIT which we sell for $2 per 200 pounds. We 
have used all kinds of grits, and the grit we are now using and sell- 
ing to the exclusion of everything else is the only grit which pigeons 
will eat greedily (thus showing that it is good for them). It con- 
tains salt, and no salt need be provided in lump form if this grit 
is supplied. The grits commonly manufactured and sold for 
poultry, made out of granite, etc., are useless for pigeons, and 



it is a waste of money to buy them, for common gravel or sand 
would be fully as good, and cost nothing. 

A great deal of oyster shell on the market is unfit for pigeons, 
not being ground fine enough. It is quite difficult in some sections 
of the West and South to get oyster shell, which has to be trans- 
ported from the seaboard. The oyster shell which we supply 
our trade is put up in one-hundred-pound bags. Price seventy- 
five cents per 100 pounds. No order filled for less than fifty 
pounds; price of fifty pounds, forty cents. It is ground fine and 
is just right for pigeons. It should be fed to the bird from a 
protected box in the squabhouse. Sample for two-cent stamp. 

Prices for grain rise and fall and we cannot guarantee that 
the following figures will hold. Send us your remittance on 
the following basis (adding 25 cents to your order for cartage; 
no charge for bags) and if there is anything due you or us, we 
will give you an accounting by return mail, or fill your order 
according to current prices. 

Mixed pigeon grain, $2.50 per 100 lbs. This mixture con- 
tains all the necessary grains (no grit or shell) and we recom- 
mend its purchase for^small flocks. For large flocks the breeder 
should buy the separate grains and do his own mixing as instructed 
in our Manual. 

Best quality red wheat, $2.50 per 100 lbs. 

Cracked corn, sifted, $1.75 per 100 lbs. 

Kaffir corn, $2.25 per 100 lbs. 

Pigeon peanuts, $2.60 per 100 lbs. 

Canada peas, $4.00 per 100 lbs. 

Health grit, $2 per 200 lbs. 

Pigeon oyster shell, 75 cents per 100 lbs.: 40 cents for 50 lbs. 

Hempseed. We make a specialty of hempseed, importing 
it from Russia, where the finest quality is grown. Every pigeon 
breeder needs some hempseed, as there is nothing to take its place, 
and the birds are extremely fond of it. Price, 25 lbs., $1.50; 
50 lbs., $3.00; 100 lbs., $6.00. 

No charge for bags. If you direct us to ship by freight, you 
should 

SEND TWENTY-FIVE CENTS EXTRA FOR CARTAGE 

of the order to the freight station. If other goods are ordered 
to be sent by freight along with grain or grit, the twenty-five 
cents additional which you send will pay for the cartage of the 
whole order. 

No order for one grain less than fifty pounds in amount will be 
filled, except in the case of hempseed, of which twenty-five pounds 
is the smallest order taken. 

Checks will not be taken in payment for grain or grit unless ten 
cents is added to the amount of the check for cost of collection. 

If you live at a railroad station where there is no freight 
agent, and for which goods must be prepaid, money to prepay 
the shipment must be sent with the order, otherwise the trans- 
portation agencies here at Boston will not take the goods. 

It costs no more for freight on a shipment in several packages 
weighing 100 pounds altogether than for less weight. 

Make up an assorted order to weigh altogether 500 pounds or 
more and you get a better freight rate, with no additional charge 
for cartage. 

WHAT A WOMAN DID IN A SMALL BACK YARD 

BY MRS. M. L. BRUNT 

A year ago I became interested in the pigeon and squab business 
so I subscribed for a magazine and bought Rice's manual, which 
I have found to be of great value to me. _ I started with eighty 
pairs of Homers and purchased in addition twenty-eight pairs 
extra Plymouth Rock Homers in June and they are at work and 
raising nice, large, fat squabs. I have fifty pairs in a pen, all 
double-number-banded and keep them this way all the time, as I 
find that one odd bird will cause lots of trouble in a pen. 

I use the self-feeders and have to fill them only once a week. 
I make my own mixture of grain of three parts of yellow corn, 
one part wheat, one part kaffir corn, one part red millet, one part 
buckwheat. I feed Canada peas and nemp every other day. 
It takes peas and hemp to make nice fat squabs. 

I have been shipping my squabs to the New York market, 
which I find is very good. This winter I expect to sell all my 
squabs in North Carolina, as the hotels cannot serve quail and 
make a charge for them, so they will be forced to use squabs for 
quail. 

I am now crowded in a back yard and will soon be forced to move 
to the country or suburb for more room to spread out. I am in 
the pigeon business to stay as I know there is good money to be 
made in squabs, if given the proper attention. I find you can 
make $1.50 clear on each pair of birds in a year as I have kept an 
accurate account of my grain and squabs for the past year. I 
will not be satisfied until I have five thousand mated pairs of 
Homers, as they are my fancy. I do all my cleaning, mating, 
picking and packing. I sell all the manure to the florists here, as 
they pay a fancy price for it. 



30 



PLYMOUTH ROCK PEANUTS AND HEALTH GRIT — BIG SELLERS 



Read what Edward E. Evans, the noted Canada pea specialist of Michigan, says about 
peanuts for pigeons: "Until squab and pigeon breeders learn what constitutes food value, 
until they learn why the American farmer pays $25 a ton for one kind of feed and $45 a ton for 
another kind, there is no use to talk or write about peas. When your squab people learn that 
on the basis of absolute food value a bushel of peas is worth two and one-half bushels of wheat, 
they will begin to know something about squab production on a paying basis. PEANUTS 
ARE OF SUCH GREAT VALUE TO SQUAB RAISERS BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN 
MORE THAN FORTY PER CENT ACTUAL PROTEIN AND ARE THE RICHEST IN 
THAT SUBSTANCE OF ANY MATERIAL PRODUCED ON AMERICAN FARMS." 



Plymouth Rock Pigeon Peanuts 

Have all the advantages of Canada peas, contain more 
protein, are more valuable to squab raisers; are sold at 
one-half the price of Canada peas. 

PPirP* ONLY $1.30 PER BUSHEL. FIFTY LBS. TO 
rlMvEi A BUSHEL. ONLY $2.60 PER 100 LBS. 

No order filled for less than one hundred pounds. This 
price is free on board this end. No charge for bags or 
cartage. Freight charges low, being approximately only 
ten cents to twenty cents a bushel to points in the Eastern 
States and Mississippi Valley. Order from three hundred 
to five hundred pounds at a time to get the low freight rate. 

The value of peanuts as a food for pigeons was dis- 
covered in 1912. It was made known to the squab world 
by a Virginia squab breeder. In 1913 they were 
tested thoroughly by squab breeders in every section with 
universally good results. During the past ten years the 
enormous demand for Canada peas from breeders of the 
Plymouth Rock Homers and Carneaux in every part of 
the United States and Canada has absorbed each year's 
crop and caused the price to rise from $1 to $2 and even 
$3.00 a bushel. 

Pigeon peanuts contain more protein than Canada peas. 
Red wheat, in food value, at present prices, is three times 
as expensive as Canada peas at $2 a bushel. It is 
economy to feed pigeon peanuts even if they cost $2 
a bushel. Protein is absolutely necessary for a good egg 
and squab production. 

HOW TO FEED PEANUTS: So valuable are peanuts 
that a flock of pigeons will do well as follows: Mix whole 
or cracked corn, wheat and peanuts in equal proportions. 
Some kaffir corn and buckwheat may be added if obtain- 
able cheap, or may be fed with hempseed as dainties, but 
for the bulk of your feeding you can rely on corn, wheat 
and peanuts mixed equally. Peanuts will keep as well as 
wheat or Canada peas. They will not heat or mold like 
corn. The peanuts as we sell them are SHELLED. You 
get no husks — nothing but the meat. 

"I feed whole corn, wheat, kaffir, peanuts, a little hemp and oc- 
casionally a few peas. I find peanuts are better and very much cheaper 
than Canada peas." — Charles B. Netf. "My squabs are good size and 
fat. When using peanuts one need not feed hemp or sunflower seeds 
as there b enough oil as well as protein in peanuts." — Fred M. Bugg. 
"Peanuts are certainly the stuff for fattening squabs. I see a great 
difference in my squabs when I discontinue using peanuts for a while." — 
Leigh & Fuller. "I have tried peanuts thoroughly and find them 
excellent." — J. F. Bossier. "At first the pigeons did not know what 
the peanuts were and would not touch them. They soon learned, and ate 
them greedily. I think they are a great feed." — L. A. Spatz. "I am 
more than surprised how the pigeons love them. They eat peanuts 
before any other graiD." — Edward Ackerman. "I have been using 
peanuts for some time and find them a wonderful feed. Every breeder 
should test peanuts." — Oscar Moll. 

»>Both large and small plants are feeding peanuts with 
great success. The use of peanuts means more eggs, more 
squabs, fatter squabs. Don't buy Canada peas at present 
high prices when you can get pigeon peanuts of us so 
cheaply. Prompt shipments. No order filled for less than 
two bushels (one hundred pounds) . No charge for bags or 
cartage. Give these a trial and you will be a steady cus- 
tomer. Send your order directly to us. Look out for 
imitations, such as refuse from candy factories, etc., or 
blends. No checks taken in payment for peanuts unless 
ten cents is added for collection charges. 



PLYMOUTH ROCK 
HEALTH GRIT 

ONLY TWO DOLLARS FOR TWO HUNDRED 
(200) POUNDS. (Old price was $2 per 100.) 

Your pigeons need grit as well as oyster shell. You must have 
both for a good production of eggs and squabs. A flock of pigeons under 
any conditions and in any part of the country will do better when our 
Plymouth Rock Health Grit is fed. The squabs will be ready for market 
a few days earlier, they will be plumper, and both they and the 
old birds will be in rugged health, and will keep so. We keep this 
grit before our own pigeons constantly, and consume and sell more 
tons of it every year than of any grit in the market. It is used by 
practically every large squab breeder of our acquaintance. We recom- 
mend it in the highest terms, knowing in our own experience that it 
pays for itself many times over. Feed this grit liberally and your 
grain bill will be smaller. This grit at one cent a pound is certainly 
cheaper than grain at two to three cents a pound. The pigeons eat it 
freely and the grain is better assimilated. Result, more eggs, falter 

squabs and a healthy flock. Be sure you put 
OHM B AM in a stock of Plymouth Rock Health Grit 
If* ^gaT when you order your grain and keep it 

always on hand. Feed it fresh every day 

like grain. 

PRICE ONLY $2 
for 200 POUNDS 

No order filled for less than two 
hundred pounds. It goes at 
a low freight rate, lower than 
grain. We sold this grit for 
.". period of ten years at $2 
per hundred but by machine 
mixing on a large scale we 
are able now to cut the 
price in halves. Only $10 
for half a ton and $20 for a 
ton. It is as good for hens 
as for pigeons. We have 
hundreds of letters like these from squab breeders: 

THIS GRIT MAKES GOOD HATCHES 

"I had several pairs of pigeons whose squabs died in the 
shell, after picking a small opening the size of my little finger. 
I failed to understand the cause. / read of Plymouth Rock Health 
Grit and sent for a trial order. After feeding this for several months 
I find the squabs hatching fine. Hereafter nothing but Plymouth Rock 
Health Grit for me." — Herman L. Schindler, Monroe, Wisconsin. 

PIGEONS FIGHT FOR PLYMOUTH 
ROCK HEALTH GRIT 

"Enclosed find two dollars, for which please send me your Plymouth 
Rock Health Grit. We used one bag of it and have been trying to use 
other grits since the bag was exhausted, but the birds will not eat them 
and the squabs have fallen off in weight to a great extent. As ..he 
birds would pile upon each other and fight for your Grit when the supply 
ran out and we refilled the feeders, I have come to the conclusion that 
it is the only grit to be used." — Frank Harris, 2118 York Street, Des 
Moines, Iowa. 

CAUTION: Do not feed to pigeons the cheap grits selling as low aa 
fifty cents a hundred and which are made generally simply of crushed 
granite or other rock. Such grits have no value for pigeons and the 
birds are indifferent to them. Plymouth Rock Health Grit is obtainable 
only of us; we have no agents. 




PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY, 196 Howard Street, Melrose, Massachusetts 



31 



FOR AMOUNTS UNDER ONE DOLLAR SEND U. S. TWO-CENT STAMPS 



Aluminum and Colored Bands for Marking Pigeons 



WE sell both aluminum bands and colored bands. There 
are two kinds of aluminum bands, seamless and open. 
The seamless are used mostly by the breeders of 
flying Homers and fancy pigeons because when once put on 
to young ones, the birds' legs grow so that it becomes impos- 
sible to remove the bands. The band (as it is dated with the 
year of hatch) is proof of the age of the bird, so if the breeder 
Is called upon by exhibition rules to show a pigeon one year 
old, or two years old, or to sell such a bird, he can do so. A 
seamless band can be removed from the leg of a pigeon only 
by cutting. It cannot be used to mark the sex, because it must 
be applied to the leg of the squab when the squab is from four 
to six days old. To place a seamless band on the leg of a 
squab of this age, proceed with the utmost 
care as illustrated in Figure One. If you are 
rough, hasty or careless you will ruin the 
delicate toes and leg of the squab. You 
positively cannot do this either on an old 
pigeon, or squab older than one week. If 
you try, you will injure or kill. We do not 
sell the seamless bands, but we sell the tub- 
ing and tools with which they are easily and cheaply made, 
as follows: 




FIGURE 1 



ALUMINUM TUBING 
This tubing is the right size for Homers and the smaller 
breeds of fancy pigeons. We sell it in only one size, as the 
larger sizes are not called for in seamless band work. Price 
per foot, postage paid, nineteen cents. No order filled for less 
than one foot. 

STEEL ROD 

This is the exact diameter of the inside of the tubing and is 
placed within when the band is being stamped to prevent the 
band from collapsing under the hammer. Price, postage paid, 
five cents. 

STEEL FIGURES 
These are used to number the band. They have all the 
figures from 1 to 9 inclusive, and 0, so that any number may 
be stamped. (For figure 6, use the 9 upside down, or vice 
versa. These sets do not have both a 6 and a 9. The one die 
serves for both.) Price of steel figures (in a round wood box) 
postage paid, one dollar. 



HACKSAW 
To saw the band off the tubing use a hacksaw. 
postage paid, twenty-seven cents. 



Price, 



HOW TO USE THE TOOLS 

The process of making a seamless band will be understood 
by study of the following pictures: 




FIGURE 2 



FIGURE 3 



FIGURE 4 



To finish a band made out of tubing, use a small file to re- 
move the rough burrs and smooth the edges. 

An open band may be made from a seamless band. Many 
who buy the tubing do not know how to do this. Simply hold 
the seamless band in a pair of pincers (see Figure Four) and 
with the hacksaw cut across and through the band, close to 
the stamped figure. The result is a band which can be opened 
with the fingers and put around the leg either of a sauab or 
old pigeon, being closed flush with the fingers as soon as you 
have it around the leg of the bird. Make the saw-cut close 
to the stamped figures so as not to weaken the band. 



^ For description and 
prices of the popular 
color bands see page 34 
of this catalogue. 



BAND OUTFIT 

By the use of a band outfit, it is possible to make your own 

seamless bands at the cost of three or four for a cent, whereas 

if purchased ready made they will cost you two cents apiece. 

We have sold thousands of band outfits consisting of the set 




OUTFIT FOR MAKING BANDS CHEAPLY 
Showing aluminum tubing, steel rod, set of steel figures and hacksaw. 

of steel figures, steel rod, hacksaw, two feet of aluminum tubing. 
The two feet o f tubing will make ninety-six bands. The outfit 
will last a lifetime and will pay for itself in first lot of bands. 
Price $1.50 if shipped by express or freight with other goods. 
Price, postage paid, $1.70. 

BAND FLATS OR BLANKS 
We have a large sale of the flat pieces of aluminum, already 
cut V shape, from ^hich open bands are made. When you 
get them you may number them 
and letter them to suit yourself 
and then form them around the 
wood rod which we send. We sell 
these blanks put up in packages 
of thirty, with wood rod, for ten 
cents, postage paid. Price for six- 
ty, postage paid, twenty cents. 
Price for 120, postage paid, forty i 
cents, and so on, three for a cent, wood rod with every package. 
This is the cheapest way to buy aluminum bands, provided 
you are willing to do a little work yourself forming them. 
The resulting band is neat and strong. These pictures show 
how to form the bands from the blanks: 




HOW TO MAKE A V-SHAPED ALUMINUM BAND 



FIRST, stamp the desired number (using steel die and hammer) on the 
end of the blank. Do not stamp in the centre of the blank for if you do 
you will weaken the metal so that it may crack there when you bend it. 
The band should be on a flatiron or stovelid when stamped. 

SECOND, take the wood rod in one hand and with the fingers of the 
other hand pinch the blank into a circle around the rod. 

THIRD, pound the V-shaped edges into close contact lightly with a tack 
hammer. 

FOURTH, open band with fingers and place around leg of pigeon and 
close band. 

The steel figure dies are the same as used in making the 
seamless dies from tubing. Price per set, in wood box, postage 
paid, one dollar. 

These band blanks, also the V-shaped open bands (see top 
of next pa?e) which we sell are the correct size both for 
Homers and Carneaux. In ordering band blanks or bands, 
send United States two-cent stamps for amounts under one 
dollar. 



32 



FOR AMOUNTS UNDER ONE DOLLAR SEND U. S. TWO-CENT STAMPS 



V-SHAPED OPEN BANDS 
These are the most popular of all aluminum bands. They 
are made out of flat aluminum ribbon and after being num- 
bered, or initialed, or both, are formed into a circle around a 
wood rod with the fingers and a hammer. They are heavy 
enough so that they will stay all right on the legs of the birds. 
They can be applied either to squabs or old pigeons. The 
edges are rounded so as not to chafe tne legs. We can furnish 

these either unnumbered 
or numbered. Price, un- 
numbered, postage paid, 
half a cent each, two for a 
cent, fifty cents a hundred. No order filled for less than one 
dozen. Price, numbered, postage paid, one cent each, one 
dollar a hundred. No order filled for less than one dozen. 
These are first-class bands, made by hand. 

We do not sell lettered bands. If you wish to letter your 
bands with one initial, or with your three initials, we will 
supply the steel letters for twenty -three cents each, postage 
paid, so that you may letter either the bands you buy of us. 




or those you make. When ordering, specify plainly the letter 
or letters wished. 

Squabs are generally banded with these V-shaped aluminum 
bands when they are from three weeks to four weeks old. A 
guess is made at the sex, the band being put on either right or 
left leg. When the youngster is four to five months old, it 
will disclose its sex by its actions. If the bird is a cock, and 
the band happens to be on the right leg, leave the band where 
it is. If a hen, and band is oa right leg. catch the bird and 
transfer band to left leg. Always band cocks on right legs 
and hens on left legs. You know each bird by the number 
on its band. Place this number at the top of a thrje-by-five 
card, or at the top of a page in an account book, and keep a 
record of what the bird does. 

See next page for description and 
prices of COLORED BANDS. 



$l#t#t#$l&t$Jl£!t£lt$jt£j$ 



Demand for Quality Has Drawn Plymouth Rock Pigeons 
Into Every Section of This Continent 



ANYBODY with gumption can make a success breeding 
squabs provided he starts with pigeons bought of us, 
and sells under our trademark where and how we in- 
struct in special letters when he is ready with the squabs. We 
have sold stock in every State and Territory of the United 
States, in every province of Canada (including the cold sections), 
in Alaska, Brazil, Cuba, Porto Rico, the Bahamas, the Hawai- 
ian Islands and several European countries. We have refused 
several orders from New Zealand and Australia, because we 
guarantee safe delivery, and do not care to run the risk of too 
long a railroad journey and sea voyage. Wherever we under- 
take to ship, we pledge ourselves to get the birds there safely. 
This expertness in shipping did not come to us without a 
struggle. Before we showed how, shipments of pigeons in 
quantities across the continent were unknown. We ship in 
expensive baskets (which are returned to us empty) and each 
basket is skilfully rigged for its purpose. The instructions to 
express messengers as to feed and water are printed on a board 
attached to the basket. (See Manual.) There is hardly an 
express messenger in the United States who has not handled 
our shipments in his car at some time. The Boston agents of 
the interstate express companies have taken a great deal of 
Interest in our pigeon business and for first-class testimonials 
as to the magnitude of our trade, our responsibility and integrity 



we refer to the head men of these organizations, also to any 
American mercantile agency, bank or first-class publishing 
house. 

Just a word further about our responsibility. Not a share 
of our $100,000 stock is for sale. We are making the business 
pay, and you do the same, when you buy our birds and follow 
our instructions. We have ample capital and do a cash busi- 
ness exclusively, — and have no debts whatever. Everything 
we buy is paid for the same day we get the goods, all bills being 
discounted, and this practice we have followed ever since we 
have been in business (with the exception of the first eiimt 
months). 

Our pigeons thrive in any section, a fact which is not sur- 
prising, for common pigeons are seen in a wild state all over 
the earth. In places where there are cold winters, like Canada, 
the pigeons seem to do as well as in New England. Our 
Florida customers send us reports similar to those we get from 
California. In Texas, our customers erect a light, open, thor- 
oughly ventilated structure, because a tight house, such as is 
used in northern latitudes, would be unhealthful. In places 
like the northwestern part of the United States, where there 
is a wet and a dry season, the pigeons readily adapt themselves 
to the climate conditions, same as all feathered creatures in 
those localities. 



In Consideration of Your Buying Birds of Us, We Give 

You the Right to Use Our Trade Mark Plymouth 

Rock When Marketing Your Killed Squabs 



BY a line of advertising which started in 1900 and has 
increased in volume every year since, we have made the 
Plymouth Rock brand of squabs known in all sections 
and our trade-mark of two squabs in the nest is familiar every- 
where. By this advertising we have made it easy — and are 
making it easier every year— for our customers to sell 
their squabs. When pigeons are bought of us we also give, 
at no extra charge, the right to sell the squabs as Plymouth 
Rock squabs, and this right belongs legally to those who buy 
their breeding stock of us. Be sure you start with this great 
advantage. 

Our advertising in the magazines leads people to eat squabs 
who have not the time or the place or inclination to raise them 



and it is this advertising, nothing else, which is boosting the 
prices of squabs year after year. 

Be sure you take advantage of this Plymouth Rock market 
by buying your breeding stock of us. 

Our ordinary small advertisement in a first-class publication 
costs us, one insertion, from $25 to $50. Multiply this by the 
large number of publications in which we are constantly ad- 
vertising and you can form some idea of the tremendous force 
of publicity which is at work day and night to sell the Ply- 
mouth Rock squabs. If you are looking for business and want 
tc take advantage of such advertising, get aboard. You will 
find it easier to push well-advertised goods. It is important 
for you to get your squabs into the markets right. 



S3 



FOR AMOUNTS UNDER $1.00 SEND U. S. TWO-CENT STAMPS 



'Z2ZZS&' 




f: 



~x 








Double-Number Color Leg Bands Are the Most for Your 

Money, Outsell All Others and Are in Universal 

Use Wherever Pigeons Are Bred 



THE most popular band for pigeons and squabs is the double- 
number color leg band. (See illustration above.) These 
bands are in universal use everywhere pigeons are kept and 
are preferred to all others because of their great practical value 
and long-wearing qualities. Inbreeding is positively prevented by 
their use and the operator controls his pigeons in a sure and accurate 
manner possible with no other system. The idea of two numbers 
on a legband in duplicate, so that no matter how the bird stands, 
the eye of the observer will see one of the numbers, was the inven- 
tion of Elmer C. Rice. The double-number band is made in twelve 
colors as follows: Black figures on white, red, cherry, pink, brick, 
blue, light blue, green, light green, yellow, light yellow and gray 
backgrounds. 

They tell the full story to the breeder, showing the number itself. 



Big, bold figures. The numbers run from one to sixty, because 
more than sixty pairs of breeding pigeons are not kept in one pen. 

PRICES (Postage Paid) 

6 pairs, any numbers or colors $0.25 

12 pairs, any numbers or colors 50 

25 pairs, any numbers or colors 1 .00 

50 pairs, any numbers or colors 1 .50 

100 pairs, any numbers or colors 3.00 

500 pairs, any numbers or colors 13.50 

1000 pairs, any numbers or colors 25 .00 

Sample for two-cent stamp. Be sure when ordering to specify 
that you wish the double-number band, and tell us what numbers 
and colors you wish. Note that the numbers run to sixty only. 
The bands are mailed flat. Roll them around a pencil or wood 
rod before applying. 



^^•^•^•^{•rHM? 



No Fancy Talk About Squabs in Our Books— We Give 

You the Plain, Clear Reasons Why, of Long, Hard 

Experience, and Back Them Up With 

Evidence That Convinces 



SINCE writing the Manual, the National Standard Squab 
Book, and circulating it, I receive many letters from 
all parts of the country. My work in the squab industry 
has developed it to some extent but the possibilities are not 
even dreamed. There is no limit to the demands for squabs 
among ninety millions of people, a constantly increasing 
population and a constant decrease in the supply of game. 
The problem is to tell the people about squabs effectively. 
The rest follows. As food they are more than welcome. 

It costs now (19 '6) from 75 cents to $1.50 a year to feed 
a pair of breeding pigeons which produce from seven pairs to 
nine pairs of squabs a year, depending on the location of the 
Bquab breeder. Different men say things in different ways, 
or not always in the same language, but there is no man 
raising squabs successfully today who departs in any essential 
particular from my book. It is amusing to note at times 
In the current periodicals little disputes over minor points. 
For example, a squab breeder in an Eastern State will explain 
In detail that it costs him from $1 to $1.25 a year to 
feed a pair of breeders. Then a man in the West will come 
forward with a showing of how it cost him only fifty cents 
a year a pair to feed his birds. And they will have it back 
and forth, with others joining in. All the while, it seems 
to be forgotten that the Eastern-State man is on a small 
railroad branch hundreds of miles out of the way of traffic, 
and not selling the manure, while the Westerner is right in 
the wheat and corn fields where he may be raising his own 
grain, and grain costs one-third less than the other man 
pays, and frequently one-half. Some breeders may be buying 
grain in carload lots with intelligence, others are going out 
with a hand basket and buying it in paper bags. There is a 
wide range for intelligence and skill in buying pigeon feed, 
some breeders producing squabs at half the cost of others in 
the same county. 



I have noted that business concerns which tell the simple 
truth and back it up get the trade which is desirable and 
which lasts and is profitable. That has been our experience. 
I have tried to tell the truth about squabs. For instance, 
in an edition of this free booklet which went out for four 
years, I stated the important matter of production of a pair 
of breeding birds to be five pairs of squabs per year. A test 
to which the United States Government has called attention 
resulted in seven and one-half pairs of squabs per pair of 
breeders annually. There are some breeders who claim to 
get eight or ten pairs of squabs yearly from each pair of 
breeders and we have done this also. To be conservative 
and fair I put the statement in the Manual seven to nine 
pairs of squabs annually from each pair of breeders. Not 
only in this but in every particular it is my object to under- 
state rather than exaggerate. This has worked out during 
the past ten years well, for customers write in constantly that 
they find the practice to be even better than the statement 
of facts in my books. I am painting no fancy pictures about 
squabs. 

It has been my experience, in handling over one hundred 
thousand customers, that people who fail with squabs or 
poultry fail because they are lacking in business ability and 
do not know how to sell their product. Such take any price 
offered, knowing neither the cost of production nor what 
they must sell for to keep in business. They would fail at 
any task requiring salesmanship. 

ELMER C. RICE 

Treasurer Plymouth Rock Squab Co. 

196 Howard Street, Melrose Highlands, Mass. 



34 



FREE ADVICE IF YOU SEND A STAMPED ENVELOPE 



Please Write on One Side of Your Sheet of Paper 
Number the Questions Which You Ask and 
Enclose a Stamped Envelope 



and 



WE receive from three hundred to six hundred letters daily 
(some days more) all the year round on topics connected 
with our business. The work of handling this corre- 
spondence is done in a systematic manner. For anybody who 
needs advice on squab matters, special letters are dictated, mostly 
by Mr. Rice. Ask us your questions and we will answer them fully, 
correctly and promptly. Correspondents will favor themselves as 
well as us by observing the following: 

Write on one side only of your sheet of paper. Use a large 
sheet about eight by eleven inches, the usual business size. If 
you use more than one sheet, number your sheets plainly. Please 
do not send us any closely-written, criss-crossed sheets (the way a 
girl usually writes a love-letter). 

Please be brief. It you ask a series of questions, number them 
and keep a copy so that we can reply by number without repeating. 



We can read all kinds of handwriting, but the full name of the 
writer should be signed plainly at the end of the letter, together 
with the mail address, in detail and the name of the State spelled 
out in full. Most writers in signing Md. (for Maryland) make it 
look like Ind. (for Indiana). The same confusion results in a dozen 
other States, such as Cal. or Col., Miss, or Mass., N. Y. or N. J., etc 
Blind letters and those with defective addresses are not answered 
the same day we get them, but are turned over to a clerk to be 
deciphered, it sometimes being necessary to write to the postmaster 
whose postmark appears on the envelope, but in the cases of cities 
and large towns that method cannot be employed, and no further 
attention can be given to the letter. 

Always enclose a stamped aad addressed envelope. 

We are always glad to hear squab news from all parts of the 
country. Tell us something new and interesting about squabs 
and the squab markets, volume and prices, etc., where you live. 
Send us some real news which you yourself have learned. 



*+**&»tf^'&fih*t"*«l t * 



Get Higher Prices for Squabs — Join the National Squab 

Breeders' Association 



THIS association was formed in 1900 and before the close of 
the year obtained eight thousand members, constituting the 
largest pigeon organization in the world. It costs nothing to 
join and there are no initiation fees or annual dues. If you are 
breeding squabs or pigeons for market or for recreation, send in 
your name and get a button and wear it. To secure a button, send 




«fl Send for this 
1916 membership 
button. 



ten cents (either a dime or United States two-cent stamps) to the 
National Squab Breeders' Association, 220 Purchase Street, 
Boston, Mass., saying that you are a member of the association 
and want a button. If you are not yet a member, say that you 
wish to join. Your name then will be enrolled and a button mailed 
you. The button is not cheap celluloid or enamel, but is made of 
solid copper alloy, bronze, with a dark finish like the familiar G. A. 
R. button. (It is not a brass button.) The buttons of the Spanish 



War Veterans and other organizations are of the same type and 
are delivered on deposit of at least twenty-five cents and generally 
one dollar. Our button is as good as it is possible for a bronze 
button to be made. Wear the button and talk up the association 
among your fellow pigeon men and others interested in squabs. 
Get them to join. The objects are - To profit financially by refusing 
to sell squabs at less than a profit. To encourage the eating of 
better squabs and more of them. To find out the best places to 
buy grain. To learn how and where to sell squabs as well as how 
to rai?e them. To unite as squab and pigeon breeders, not to fight 
each other, but to help, in any way that comes up. To boost, and 
not to knock. To use the influence of what is now the largest 
pigeon organization in the world, on any topic, or in any work that 
may come up, in the broadest and best way, for the good of all. 
To get acquainted with and understand each other, so that when 
button wearers get together they can clasp hands in good fellowship. 
Watch the magazine from month to month for bulletins of progress. 



Red stickers like this cut now ready 
for members, price twelve cents per hundred 
prepaid. These have made a big hit and 
we are mailing thousands. Use them to 
ornament top of letterhead or corner of 
envelope or on flap of envelope, or on bill- 
heads, etc. 




H"i'+ T il'»fc"it' ? iM ,r t"! ?T J^ 



HOW I GOT WISE TO TRUE SQUAB PRICES (by Gerald 
R. Wood). Herein Spokane I never sell squabs for less than $4.20 
per dozen, and more often it is forty cents apiece; in the winter 
I hold out for forty-five cents each, and get it, too. I had to cut 
out selling my squabs to the merchants here right from the start. 
I took two dozen nice squabs to town one day and after running 
around considerably had to sell them finally for $2.40 per dozen. 
I might have gone on doing that and become disgusted like a 
good many others, only while I was waiting for my money, and 
the squabs had not even been taken off the counter, a customer 
approached and asked for squabs. A clerk stepped up and asked 
forty cents each for my squabs. The customer, evidently a chef 
from some hotel, took the bunch. I got $4.80 for my work of 
feeding, raising, picking and marketing. The storekeeper got 
$4.80 clear profit for allowing the squabs to be in his store about 
ten minutes. I went out of there a sadder but wiser man. I am 
now working for myself, not for commission men. 

HOW FATHER LANDED THE HIGH MARKET (by Purssell 
O' Neal ). I am breeding a small flock of Carneaux to get some good 
foundation stock for a squab plant. A year ago we moved to Cali- 
fornia from Oklahoma City, where we had a nice flock of Plymouth 
Rock Homers. We remodeled an old barn, built a large fly for 
them and they soon began to produce squabs. When we had 
bred them to about one hundred, my father began to look for a 
market. The first place he went to was a small restaurant. The 
buyer offered fifteen cents each for them, and when he was told 
that he could not have them for less than twenty-five cents each 
he laughed and said, "You will never get twenty-five cents for a 
squab in Oklahoma City." The next stop was at the Skirvin 
Hotel, one of the largest in the city. The steward inquired the 
price and my father replied, "I will not agree to f urnih you squabs 
at this price, but just to show you what my squabs are like I will 
sell you a dozen at thirty cents each ($3.60 per dozen)." The 
steward said he would take them and that we could bring him all 
we could possibly spare. There were several squab breeders in 



the city and a few miles out in the country, and my father made 
a business of buying their live squabs and selling them to the hotel 
along with our own. We frequently sold them severai dozen a 
week but as we could not supply them enough, they were compelled 
to have squabs shipped in from the large cities. One night we car- 
ried them a large basket of squabs and they informed us that they 
could not use them as they had just received a large shipment 
from St. Louis. Well, we never had tried to sell to private families 
but the next morning my father made a house-to-house canvass and 
in a few minutes had disposed of them all. We soon had several 
regular customers on our list and as they proved more profitable 
than the hotel we sold to private trade altogether. 



WARNING 

Plymouth Rock Homers and Carneaux and Plymouth 

Rock squabs are the best advertised pigeons in the world 
and are famous everywhere for their size and breeding. 
This has led unprincipled dealers to offer pigeons to the 
unwise and unsuspecting as "Plymouth Rock." Such 
pigeons are merely culls such as we sell ourselves for 
twenty-five cents a pair to market to be killed. Beware 
of dealers using our trade mark Plymouth Rock illegally 
and offering such stock at 75 cents to $2.00 a pair, or what- 
ever they can get, and telling- any kind of a story to push 
the sale. Such parties have no financial rating, their 
so-called guarantees are worthless and nothing but hu- 
miliation and failure will follow the purchase of such 
stock for breeding purposes. Such flocks are mostly 
cock pigeons which do no breeding- but only quarrel 
and eat. 



35 



TO SELL SQUABS TELL PEOPLE FACTS ABOUT THEM 




I KNOW IT 

"After experimenting with pigeons five years I have settled finally on the 
Homer as being the best all-round utility bird. At this writing I have seven 
pens of pigeons. I have three pens of Homers, all foundation stock Plymouth 
Rock stock. I find the market in this section is strong for squabs that weigh 
about eight to ten pounds to the dozen with a limited sale for squabs that run 
larger. The large consumers will consider only such squabs. They never buy anything 
larger. " — Qeorge Klarmann. 

"I handle the squabs of a good many other people here and notice that those 
that have Plymouth Rock Squab Company stock are always sending me the best " — 
Stefan Schwarz. 

Significant talk, written by Messrs. Klarmann and Schwarz, two secretaries 
of the Pacific Utility Pigeon Association. What is true of California is true of every 
State and every City on the North American Continent. See in our printed matter the 
letters from squab marketmen everywhere telling the same impressive fact. Do 
you wonder why our sales steadily increase? Raise the squabs to which the markets 
are accustomed, the salable squabs, the fast-produced squabs, the profitable squabs. 



>Jn|»«J"i«Jti4n4Mj»^^»J»tJ» 



What Customers Who Have Bred Squabs from Our Birds 

Say— "Squabs Ten to Twelve Pounds to the Dozen" 

-"More Than Satisfied "-"Surpassing All 

Expectations"—" Know How to Ship" 



WE have letters from customers by the thousand, telling of 
remarkable success with out birds. To give you an idea 
of what these letters contain, we print here a few extracts. 
(For the letters in full, see printed matter accompanying the 
Manual.) 

BIG SQUABS 
" My first shipment of squabs will be made April 11. So far 
my squabs have averaged ten and one-quarter, ten and one-half and 
eleven and one-half pounds to the dozen." 

OVER TWELVE POUNDS TO THE DOZEN 

" I weighed two squabs from your birds and they weighed just 
two pounds, two ounces." 

MORE THAN A POUND APffiCE 

" I find your statements in your squab book are conservative 
in all things. The squabs I have taken at three or four weeks have 
weighed from thirteen to seventeen ounces apiece. After an ex- 
perience of two months with your birds I am more than satisfied." 

SIX DOLLARS A DOZEN 

" I have some fine birds I have raised from your birds I bought 
a year ago last May. I am getting six dollars per dozen for my 
squabs now and can't get them fast enough. I have lost one bird 
since I started over one year ago." 

KNOW HOW TO SHIP 

" The expressman paid your firm a high compliment by calling 
our attention to the sack of grain and the water-dish. He said, 
'These people seem to understand their business and are very care- 
ful of their birds. Why, we have had birds come in here half starved 
and looking just awful.' Those were his exact words. I thought 
them pretty good from a man who handles so many." 
HIGH QUALITY 

" I wrote you the first of the week for price of fifty pairs of 
Homers ready for hatching. The Homers I bought from you two 
years ago are doing finely, also those I hatched from them. They 
are very large and handsome. Shipped some dressed squabs last 
week to New York and they returned five dollars per dozen, which 
proves the quality of the goods." 



BEST IN BOSTON MARKET 

" The birds I have purchased from you are the cream of the 
flock. I have been selling the squabs at the Boston hotels for 
thirty-five cents apiece the year round, and Nathan Robbins at 
the Quincy Market was glad to take them at $3.50 per dozen. 
I have saved a few young birds, some of the very finest." 

GREAT BREEDERS 

" I wish to state that from the two dozen pairs of Plymouth 
Rock Homers I got from you in November, 1908, I now, January 
16, 1910, have over four hundred birds, and the flock is still increas- 
ing and I hope to have a thousand by the end of this year." 

CANADA TRADE 
By S. Gilbert 

I would like you to publish this letter or any part of it. I think 
it would be of use to shippers in the States to customers in Canada. 
I sent to one advertiser for some pigeons and he sent them nicely 
crated, but no invoice, just a letter saying that he had shipped 
them. Consequently I had to pay duty as well as expressage. 
I wrote to him asking him to send me an invoice, as by so doing 
I could get the return of the duty charge. He sent me an ordering 
letter, which was of no use. Some time after that I sent to another 
advertiser for one hundred pounds wild seeds, $1.50; freight, duty 
and customs brokers' charges brought it to another $1.50, making 
$3. Again no invoice. Before taking the bag out of bond I wrote 
to the advertiser telling him I would have double duty to pay if he 
did not send me an invoice — would he kindly do so? He answered 
me by sending me the bill of lading. No use. Now, how is trade 
to be encouraged between the two countries, when business is done 
like that? The customs brokers said to me: "I would not do busi- 
ness with a man who would not send me an invoice." I then 
bought birds of the Plymouth Rock Squab Company. They sent 
me two certified invoices, one for the broker and one for the customer 
and I never had any trouble, and no duty charged. Why is it 
that if you want birds or anything in the pigeon line, the Plymouth 
Rock Squab Company is the only company that we in Canada can 
depend upon, to have them reach us without trouble? 



36 



THIS PAGE MAY BE DETACHED AND USED FOR ORDER BLANK 



Name , „ „ 

Number and Street 

City or Town State. 

Date „ 



PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY 

Howard Street, Melrose Highlands, Mass. 

Gentlemen: My name and address are written on the above lines. Enclosed find 

$ in post-office or express money order, bank draft or check (United States 

two-cent stamps for amounts less than one dollar), and send me the following: 



READ THIS AND SEE HOW FAST PLYMOUTH ROCK HOMERS BREED 



SQUABS OUR BIG FARM'S BEST MONEY-MAKER 

BY F. I. ARMSTRONG 



IT has been eighteen months since I entered the squab breeding 
business and I have had very good success. I have now 150 
pairs of Homers and have sold 1036 squabs, all from a start of 
thirty-five pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers. The squabs have 
netted me thirty cents apiece, sold to commission men. I figure 
that if I had not sold squabs I would now have at least five hundred 
mated pairs. The Chicago market has held up well the past sum- 
mer (1913). I am now receiving $3.75 to $5.50 a dozen. For a 
couple of months they were $3 to $4 a dozen. My pigeons 
are paying better than the two-hundred-acre farm we have accord- 
ing to the amount invested. To give you an illustration. We 
have been offered two hundred dollars an acre for the land and 
last year the rent amounted to fifteen hundred dollars. Figure 
the interest on the money at five per cent and you will see it is not 
paying very big. From one hundred and fifty pairs of pigeons, 
valued at three hundred dollars, I sold three hundred dollars' 
worth of squabs in eleven months. Expenses were one hundred 



and fifty dollars, which leaves a profit of one hundred dollars and 
fifty dollars on a three hundred dollar investment. Some dif- 
ference between this and the farm. Of course last year was a 
bad year here (Illinois), and another thing about the farm is 
you always know that the money invested in it is safe and that 
you are sure of something. I had a man who owns a threshing 
outfit tell me that I should have to raise some squabs to pay for 
the house I built. I answered him by saying that it would not 
take as long for me to pay for the house raising squabs as it would 
take him to pay for his threshing outfit, which he uses about one 
month in a year. I believe any one can make a success in raising 
squabs if he is not aftaid of work. If one can make money with 
them, there is no reason why others cannot. Buy foundation stock 
of a reliable dealer. Do not look too much at the price you have 
to pay. Use the same amount of head work that you do muscle, 
and your chances to win out are about ten to one in your favor. 



$H&t&t£jl£n&ti3t$H£n£j&«JJ 



HOW WE BRED 800 PAIRS FROM 25 IN VERMONT 



BY E. E. WYGANT AND RAY E. BROWN 



IN April, 1909, we bought twenty-five pairs of Extra Plymouth 
Rock Homers irom the Plymouth Rock Squab Company, 
Boston. When the birds arrived, we placed them in a box 
stall, built a small pen on the outside, and did not pay any atten- 
tion to them except to water and feed for over three months, when 
we found we had to prepare other pens for the young, which were 
coming very fast. In fact, every pair shipped us were all raising 
squabs at this time. They came so fast that we put up a building 
128 feet long, eighteen feet wide and twelve feet high. At this 
writing (June 3) two years later, it is filled with three hun- 
dred mated pairs all breeding, besides ten pens in the large 
barn No. 1 with four hundred mated pairs. I can see where I made 
a mistake when starting and that was that I should have bought 
about five hundred pairs and saved the time we have taken to 
breed. For since last August, when we began to sell squabs, we 
have been compelled to refuse orders owing to our wish to breed to 
one thousand pairs. We have made a point not to sell any squabs 
less than $6 a dozen dressed, and guarantee every squab to weigh 
three quarters of a pound, dressed, or no sale. We are careful not 
to kill any birds if under the above weight. We have supplied ban- 
quets and hotels at the above price and in doing so we show a com- 
mon pigeon by the side of a Homer, which settles all arguments at 
once. We feed entirely according to the directions in Elmer Rice's 
one-dollar Manual and have had no trouble in keeping all the birds 
in fine condition. The main point, in our estimation, is to have 
clean coops, fresh wat^r at all times, and see that every bird is given 
enough to eat. If these instructions are lived up to at all times, 
there is no reason why anybody should not make a success of rais- 



ing squabs. Make up your mind what variety of pigeons you 
want, how many you want, and remember the best is what you 
want. There are a great many varieties suitable for squab raising. 
We prefer the Extra Plymouth Rock Homers, which we find come 
up to all the requirements called for by the squab demand. There 
are some varieties which breed larger squabs than the Homer, but 
G good, plump. Homer squab will satisfy the appetite of most any 
common person; but in spite of this fact there are squab eaters like 
bargain seekers, — regardless of quality they want everything to 
look big for their money, so for the benefit of such customers we 
have put in a poultry business for the purpose of supplying some- 
thing big, such as ten-to-twelve-pound roasters, turkeys, etc. 
Ninety per cent of our squab customers are perfectly satisfied with 
our Homer squabs. Five of the ten per cent left have no kick, 
and the remaining five per cent could not be satisfied with any 
squab, regardless of size, so we fill their orders with poultry. Re- 
gardless of the variety you start with, it is quality you want, not 
quantity. Buy your foundation stock from a reliable breeder. 
Tell him what you want and pay his price. Don't think the price 
too high considering quality, as he knows the value of the birds 
he is quoting you prices on much better than you, and bantering 
over prices with a reliable breeder is only a waste of time. Also 
remember that saving money buying cheap stock birds is not 
saving, only wasting. The successful squab raiser should study 
the Xalional Standard Squab Book, and take advantage of some 
of the many good hints from men who know from experience. 



t£j r£j Cjj & & i&j t& t# & t£n£! t& 



SUBURBAN SQUAB RAISING IN THE SOUTH (by W. G. 

McDavid). One day, a year ago, I came across a little pamphlet 
entitled " How to make Money with Squabs," and at once my old 
love for pigeons was rekindled. In a few days I sent an order for 
twenty-fcur pairs of Extra Plymouth Rock Homers and supplies, 
and at once began the construction of a one-unit house to put 
them in when they should be received. The birds arrived on 
Tuesday, May 21, and the following Sunday, much to my surprise, 
I found nineteen nests in the house. After looking at a number 
of places I decided to purchase a five-acre tract situated three and 
one-half miles north of the city and only a little over one-fourth of 
a mile from the trolley line. Securing possession of this property, 
I commenced the construction of my future home and the necessary 
outbuildings to carry out my scheme. Thus was " Hillcrest " 
launched. On August 1 , 1912, 1 took possession, having previously 
had my pigeon house moved out from town. After my squabs are 
killed and plucked they are plumped in ice water over night, each 
one is then wrapped in paraffin paper and enclosed in a pasteboard 
carton holding one pair. The carton is then wrapped in paraffin 

gaper and sealed with a " Hillcrest, guaranteed " sticker seal. I 
ave been unable to supply the demand for squabs at sixty cents a 
pair. Chickens and pigeons are so far an entirety satisfactory 
combination and I feel reasonably sure that fruit and berries will 
blend well with them and help swell the revenue. 



GREAT OPPORTUNITY IN FLORIDA. 

The Florida winter trade gets its squabs from New York. 
Our colony of squab breeders in that State, numerous as they are, 
and breeding in the aggregate thousands of pairs of pigeons, are 
not a flea-bite on the Florida demand. The Flagler hotels along 
the East Coast must have squabs. Where do they get them? 
The answer is, that every December Heineman Bros, are given a 
single order for three thousand dozen to four thousand dozen of 
squabs by one man, and that enormous quantity is accordingly 
shipped to Jacksonville by the Clyde line steamships and put into 
storage. During the following three months, which are the Florida 
winter season, they are shipped as called for to the Flagler resorts 
from St. Augustine to Nassau, the bulk of them going to the two 
big hotels at Palm Beach, the Royal Poinciana and the Breakers. 
These forty thousand to fifty thousand squabs are eaten by visitors 
from the North. It is a traffic of such enormous magnitude as to be 
entirely out of the reach of the squab raisers of the South, at their 
present number, and it will take twenty-five years at its present 
rate of development for the squab industry in the Southern States 
to cope with this Florida demand. 



38 



THESE COUPONS MAY BE USED WHEN SENDING ORDER 



How to Send 
Money 

The coupons in the second column on 
this page may be used in ordering, if de- 
sired. (If you do not wish to cut into this 
book, write an ordinary letter telling how 
much money you are sending and what 
you want for it.) 

Amounts up to one dollar may be re- 
mitted in United States two-cent stamps, 
provided they are in sheets (not detached). 
One-cent United States stamps will be 
accepted if necessary to make the proper 
amount. Stamps of larger denomination 
and stamps of Canada or other foreign 
countries cannot be used by us, and will 
not be taken. 

Amounts of one dollar or more should 
be sent us in the form of a post-office 
money order (obtainable of any post- 
master), or an express money order (ob- 
tainable of any express agent), or a bank 
draft (obtainable of any banker). Per- 
sonal checks, if sent, should be for ten 
cents additional to pay the charge which 
our bank makes for collecting the money 
from your bank. 

Do not send us any copper, nickel or 
silver coins, as they may be lost. Buy 
two-cent stamps with them. If you send 
paper money, go to your postmaster, pay 
him ten cents and have your letter regis- 
tered, which insures you against loss. 

If you are sending money for birds, 
please go to your express agent and buy 
an express money order. This gives you 
an opportunity to get better acquainted 
with him, and tell him you are going to 
have some live pigeons come, and that 
you would appreciate whatever attention 
he gives them, and quick delivery. If 
you are on or near a telephone line, ask 
him to notify you when the birds are put 
off the train. (We notify you by mail a 
day ahead of the time of shipment.) 

If you live in a town whose name is dup- 
licated in your State, be sure and give the 
name of your county. For example, in 
California, there are three towns named 
Lake View, in three different counties, 
and it is impossible for us to write letters 
or ship goods to a customer in either town 
unless we take two weeks to find out in 
which county he lives. There are many 
such duplications in America. 

We send either the goods ordered, or a 
receipt for the money you send, or both 
goods and receipt, the same day we re- 
ceive your money, so you are bound to 
hear from us in quick time. Trading 
with us is as satisfactory as if we were next 
door to you; we will treat you courteously, 
in a fair and liberal manner. We are 
responsible and have built up our large 
trade by giving the best service in pigeons, 
pigeon supplies, and pigeon correspon- 
dence, and giving it quick. 

PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB CO. 

Melrose Highlands, 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

ELMER C. RICE, Treasurer and Manager 



FILL OUT. CUT OUT. AND MAIL 

COUPON 1NO. l RICE'S MANUAL, $1.00 

PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY, Melrose Highlands, Mass. 

Gentlemen: Enclosed find One Dollar in post-office or express money order 
or bank draft, for which mail me one copy of your latest Manual, the National 
Standard Squab Book, by Elmer C . Rice. My name and full address are as follows : 

Name 



Number 

Town or city 
State (in full) 



Street 



County 



S1S^<S<£'&<55<S^'&<!%<5^'S5^S=^-&^'S<£^^ r <e<£Q 



FILL OUT. CUT OUT. AND MAIL W 

COUPON NO. 2 SPECIAL OFFER I 

PLYMOUTH ROCK SQUAB COMPANY, Melrose Highlands, Mass. | 

Gentlemen: Enclosed find an express or post-office money order for , tf 

for which send me Special Offer Number . My full post-office address $ 

is as follows: tf 

Name tf 

Number Street V 

Town or city County X 

State (in full) B 

NOTE. If your railroad station where express and freight are received is V 

different from youi post-office address, tell us the name of it in your letter accom- * 

panying the above Coupon No. 2. V 



We sell building plans for squabhouse construction, giving by 
scale the dimensions of one of our units, and the lumber necessary 
to build, with its cost. This is all you need in the way of plans to 
build for any flock, from three pairs to ten thousand pairs or more. 
We show you in detail how to build a 10 by 12 unit, and the cost. 
A two-unit house is 20 feet long, a five-unit house 50 feet, a ten-unit 
house 100 feet, a twenty-unit house 200 feet. In a long house the 
partitions between units are made by wire-netting, not lumber. 
The units can be arranged to fit any size or shape of lot. Price of 
building plans, postage paid, ten cents. 



HOW TO FIND OUT THE TRUE SQUAB PRICES 

TO learn the true prices for squabs at your nearest market, go there in person 
or by mail and offer to buy, not to sell squabs. Then make a fair deduction 
from that figure (say twenty-five per cent) to get the price which that market 
ought to and will pay you for the squabs you breed. Do not believe or be guided 
by newspaper quotations. The prices for squabs and other poultry which you 
may see in the market columns of the newspapers are not the true prices and are 
not the record of actual sales, but are figures furnished to the papers by the secre- 
taries of the produce exchanges and represent what the dealers would like to pay to 
get the squabs. They actually have to pay much more, in some cases from fifty 
to one hundred per cent more. No intelligent breeder or grower is guided by these 
misleading and one-sided quotations. Find out the truth for yourself by offering 
to buy and not to sell. The figures of stock and bond sales which the newspapers 
print are a record of actual sales and are true, but they print no records of actual 
sales of poultry. In time this will be changed. The big financial interests, rich 
and powerful, would not stand for press-agent offers for stocks and bonds. The 
farmers are entitled to equal consideration. The newspapers have no dealings 
with the country producer and at present take and print only the figures given them 
by the city middlemen. 



39 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




TITLES OF PHOTOGRAPHS 



Melrose plant, Plymouth Rock Squab Co. 

dwelling and office building. 

Mating house, No. 7. 

<Pigeon houses, Nos. 3, 4 and 5. 

Home of Elmer C. Rice. 

Office building. 

Pigeons in yards of house No. O. 

Ditto, house No. 2. 



9 Barn. 
JO Manure building. 
1 / Pigeons in yards of house No. 

12 ^Pigeon house No. 5. 

13 View from Howard Street. 

14 Pigeons in fly pens. 

15 View from hillside, 



